Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze: Pokémon Champion
by Kamen Rider Cross
Summary: His father was a member of the Elite Four, so he made it his goal to surpass his father and become Kanto's Pokémon Champion. With his Vulpix by his side, nothing is going to stand in his way! Look out Pokémon World, because Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze has arrived!
1. Chapter 1: Start of a Journey

**A/N: Well, here goes nothing. First Naruto story I'll ever be writing and I hope this goes well. Hope you guys will enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **Chapter 1: Start of a new Journey**

"Today's the day, isn't that right, Kurama?"

A gentle smile formed on Naruto's face as he looked down at his faithful partner, Kurama, his Vulpix. His sun-kissed blond hair flowed with the breeze as the two stared at the sunrise. Naruto's ocean-blue eyes glistened when the sunlight reached him, revealing his slightly visible whisker-like birthmarks on each side of his face.

"Vul~" Kurama yipped excitedly as he bounced on Naruto's lap, much to the blond's amusement.

He remembered it like it was yesterday, when he and Kurama first became partners. According to his parents, Kurama hatched from his egg the week after Naruto was born and after meeting for the first time, they have rarely been seen without each other. He was Naruto's first friend, Pokémon and partner.

"Naruto-kun! Are you up yet?" A feminine voice called out from within the house. "You have to meet Professor Oak in an hour. So get your ass out of your room and get down here for breakfast, or should I come up there myself and drag you down, ttebane?!"

Naruto paled slightly while Kurama shivered as the two dashed back into the room, knowing that when Naruto's mother says something, it will definitely happen, and shutting the glass door behind them before rushing out of the room. As they pushed through the door, a Flareon, which belonged to Naruto's mother, yelped in surprise and leapt into the air.

As she dropped back down, the Flareon narrowed her eyes on the duo, who apologized before running off while the Flareon shook her head with a sigh and smiled. Knowing her Trainer's personality, she could only pity the two as she herself made her way down for breakfast.

Once the duo had ran down the stairs, they ran forward and bursting into the kitchen, crashing into the waiting arms of an Electivire, which belonged to Naruto's father.

Speaking of him, Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze, who donned a casual blue long-sleeved shirt and pants, looked up from his newspaper and smiled at them. "Well, that's a new record! Good job Naruto. You made it ten seconds faster than last time." With a nod, he watched as his Electivire dropped the duo onto chairs next to him, before taking a seat next to him.

"That's great, Naruto-kun," his mother, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze, who donned her usual white high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress while her long red hair was tied in a high ponytail, said with a smile as she walked over to them with her arms folded. "Just a bit longer and I would have to pull you out of bed myself."

"But I was already up early!" Naruto replied with a smile of his own. "Kurama and I were too excited that we woke up early to see the sunrise."

A smirk formed on Minato's lips as he chuckled. "Oh? So you didn't bother to change out of your pajamas when you woke up?"

Naruto looked down at his attire and blushed in embarrassment when he realized that his father was right which caused his parents, Electivire and Kurama to laugh as the Flareon from before entered the kitchen, followed by the rest of the family's Pokémon.

"Glad you all could make it on time for breakfast," Kushina said to the Pokémon who all smiled back as they went to their seats. It was times like this that made the Namikaze family special in Naruto's opinion. Unlike other families, the Pokémon that belonged to Naruto's parents sat with them during meals rather than seating on the floor. After all, they love their family and to them, their Pokémon were family.

Seating with Minato were his Pokémon. His Electivire, Ampharos, Jolteon, Emolga, Plusle and Minun.

His partner, Electivire, was once an Elekid that Minato had found while traveling around Johto during his childhood and after rescuing him from a pack of Houndoom, the two became partners who fought together throughout Minato's time as a Pokémon Trainer and ultimately, became an Elite Four member of the Kanto region.

Ampharos was once a Mareep that Minato adored while visiting a farm belonging to a friend of his. Of course, Ampharos at that time loved the attention she received from the blond man and eventually became his second Pokémon while at the same time, formed a brother-sister relationship with Electivire upon meeting him.

Jolteon was once a wild Eevee that Minato and his two Pokémon stumbled upon by chance while in Celadon City and after battling Electivire who was an Electabuzz by then, he decided that he would follow Minato and eventually evolving into a Jolteon after finding a Thunderstone. It was thanks to him that Minato was able to beat the first Elite Four member as well and he was proud of it.

Emolga joined his team during Minato's vacation with Kushina in the Unova region. She had, at first, wanted to steal food from Minato but thanks to Jolteon and Ampharos, she was stopped before she could get away. Being the kind person that he is, Minato offered Emolga some food and after that, Emolga had snatched a Pokéball from Minato and captured herself, making her one of Minato's Pokémon.

As for Plusle and Minun, they were once abandoned in the Hoenn region by their previous Trainer, who found them 'too small and frail' and discarded them when the opportunity came. They were left to fend for themselves when they were abandoned in Mauville City. When Minato had visited the city for a friendly match with Wattson, the Gym Leader of Mauville City, he found them fighting off an Electrike that was defending its territory. Minato rescued them, bringing them to the Pokémon Center where they were taken care of by Nurse Joy. Afterwards, Minato had offered them to join him. Though they were hesitant at first, they accepted it and have never regretted their decision since then, becoming the support of the team as they cheered their teammates during battles.

It was thanks to his Pokémon that he had gained fame as Kanto's Yellow Flash. His Pokémon, all being Electric types, defeated their opponents in flashes of yellow thanks to Minato's training where they had to train their Electric moves while increasing their stamina and agility. Thanks to that, most of Minato's opponents were defeated within a move or two which earned him a spot in the Elite Four.

Seating on the opposite side of the table was Kushina's Pokémon. Her starter, Incineroar, Flareon, her two Pyroar, a male and a female, Arcanine and Pansear.

Being an ex-resident of Alola, Kushina had chosen Incineroar as her starter, who was a Litten at that time. Not many knew why she had chosen him, but after a while, people understood the reason. Apparently, Kushina and Litten were two of a kind. Both of them were energetic, headstrong and stubborn. But most importantly, they had volatile tempers.

They hit it off quite well from the start and they're relationship as partners grew even more after traveling to the Kalos region where they found the Pyroar couple. They entered the Kalos League, demolishing Gym after Gym with their fiery temper and skills, earning Kushina the nickname 'the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero'. It was thanks to Incineroar that Kushina won the League despite being disadvantaged by the Mega Evolution of her opponents.

Flareon was her fifth Pokémon, which she caught while traveling Johto. The poor girl was an Eevee at that time and she was abandoned by her Trainer who left her in a Daycare and never came back. She was a shy little Eevee too. Not knowing who her Trainer was since he had left her when she had hatched but she instantly took to Kushina when she came by. Becoming somewhat of a pampered little girl since the redhead adored her. But despite that, Kushina still trained her like the rest of her Pokémon. Flareon may be the second weakest in her team, but she was still strong enough to beat numerous opponents.

Kushina's Pyroar joined her when they encountered Kushina and Incineroar during one of their training sessions. They were intrigued by Kushina and followed her for quite a while but eventually, they challenged her after Kushina had beaten the fifth Kalos Gym, only to be beaten by her Incineroar. When offered to join, they accepted. Within time, the two Pyroar grew stronger under Kushina and they did so well that they have never lost a single double-battle to this day. Of course, unless they were facing Kushina's and Incineroar's temper. Those two can pack quite a punch when angered and it still gives the Pyroar couple the chills just thinking about it.

Her Arcanine, was a Growlithe that Minato had given to her as a birthday gift. Growlithe was nothing more than a bundle of joy for Kushina as she would regularly take Growlithe out for walks and occasionally used him for battles. When the time came for Kushina to battle the Elite Four of Kanto, Growlithe chose to evolve into Arcanine right before challenging Minato, who was the first of the four to face her. Though Arcanine won two battles, he was eventually defeated by Minato's Ampharos.

Pansear, her final Pokémon, was caught when Minato and Kushina visited the Unova region, a week after Emolga was caught. Pansear was quite the contradiction when it came to his personality and Kushina's. Where Kushina was easily angered at times, Pansear was calm. Pansear also didn't enjoy battling too much, but he still battles when he is needed. He may be the weakest in the team but he was no pushover. Unlike his teammates, Pansear preferred to enjoy some peace and quiet, often helping Kushina with gathering ingredients or helping out around the house.

Naruto absolutely adored all of his parents' Pokémon. After all, when Kushina and Minato were busy, they would often have their Pokémon take care of Naruto and Kurama and they cherished each time they had with the young duo.

Electivire and Incineroar would often take care of the two and trained them as well. Kurama always enjoyed his time with the Heel Pokémon as Incineroar taught him quite a few Fire type moves like Flamethrower and Flame Charge while Electivire would usually just demolish training dummies with some of his flashy moves for Naruto's entertainment. Sometimes, the two would even spar for the duo to watch. But of course, they toned down the battle since they didn't want to upset Kushina. Despite Incineroar being just like her, Kushina was still the one in charge of the family, not Minato, and if they so much as destroy a small patch of grass around the house, well, they didn't want to imagine what she would do to them. The redhead's wrath was not worth receiving from their spars.

Flareon and the Pyroar couple would usually watch Naruto and Kurama during the night. At that time, Naruto had enjoyed cuddling up with Flareon since her fur was way softer than his own pillow, adding that she was a Fire type and she kept him warm, Naruto would often use Flareon as a pillow, which she didn't mind. Kurama, on the other hand, enjoyed the company of the Pyroar couple, who treated him as their own since they were the first Pokémon Kurama had met upon hatching.

Arcanine would often let the duo rest on his back as he trotted around the house, giving the two joyrides since Naruto couldn't walk too much at that time.

Pansear and Ampharos would accompany Naruto whenever he was out at the garden to help him pick the berries which Kushina requested. At the same time, they would teach him about the different kinds of berries through the use of books which the boy found slightly boring but still read.

Jolteon, Plusle, Minun and Emolga would always find spare time to play around with Naruto and Kurama, often playing catch or playing pranks on the others, usually it was Flareon who was pranked since she and Emolga often disagreed with each other over a lot of things and had formed a sort of rivalry.

As the Pokémon settled down in their seats, Kushina walked towards the table, grinning widely as she placed a large bowl of ramen on the table, much to the delight of Naruto. "Now, since today's a very special day for our little boy, I decided to make something you love, Naruto-kun. Eat up!"

The Pokémon, along with Minato, sweat dropped as they watched the two ramen addicts of the family slurp up the noodles from the bowl, completely forgetting that everyone else was there. It was a problem that all of them had hoped that Naruto didn't inherit from her, much to their dismay.

"I'll go make the others some food then," Minato said as he walked up to the fridge.

* * *

Once breakfast was done, Naruto had rushed back into his room to change.

Gone was his pajamas as he donned a headband on his forehead. He wore a white shirt which was covered by a high-collared, short-sleeved jacket that was black and orange with the red Uzumaki spiral on its back as well as a pair of blue jeans and a pair of orange and white sneakers.

He picked up Kurama's Pokéball and made his way back down where everyone was waiting for him.

Kurama leapt into his arms and he stroked the fur on his back as Kushina handed him a backpack. "Here's what you'll need, Naruto. I packed some clothes for you and some cash in case you need to stop at the PokéMart. I also put in a PokéNav so you wouldn't get lost while you're on your journey. Also, I-"

"Uh, Kushina-chan?" Minato interrupted, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. "I'm sure Naruto will be fine on his own. After all, we've taught him everything he needs to know."

"But what if he encounters a problem and he needs our help?!"

Naruto stared blankly at his mother. "You make it sound as if I attract trouble…"

Minato only chuckled as he turned to his son with a smile. "Go on, Naruto. Best not to keep the professor waiting. I'm sure he's looking forward to registering you as a Trainer."

"You got it, tou-san!" Naruto replied, raising a fist at his father. "And just you wait! When I'm ready, I'm going to challenge you and the other Elite Four members! I'm going to be Kanto's next Pokémon Champion, ttebayo!"

"Then you're going to have to work very hard, Naruto," Minato said, ruffling his son's hair. "We've had a lot of Trainers coming to battle lately and none of them have made it past Lorelei-chan and Bruno-san so it's been boring lately. Hopefully, you can spice things up when you come around. I'll be waiting, Naruto."

With a nod, Naruto turned to leave. After a quick embrace from the Pokémon, Kurama followed alongside the boy as the duo gave one last glance at their family before heading off.

"They grow up so fast…" Kushina mumbled, wiping away the tears in her eyes as she watched her son walking further away from the house before giving Minato a stern look. "At least I can relax since he isn't traveling with Jiraiya. Who knows what he could have taught our son."

The blond man could only laugh nervously as sweat dripped from the side of his head. "Jiraiya-sensei isn't that bad, Kushina-chan. Besides, the Croagunk you gave him still keeps him in line."

"Good," Kushina huffed. "If it wasn't for Croagunk, I would have ripped him to pieces myself if he ever turned my son into a pervert."

* * *

It didn't take long for Naruto and Kurama to reach Professor Oak's lab.

As they entered through the front door, which had been unlocked, they made their way down the empty corridor of the lab/house of the professor.

"Oak-jiji! You in here?" Naruto yelled, hearing his words echo down the hallway. In response, he heard a man's voice calling out to him from room at the end of the corridor. With a grin, he ran towards that room with Kurama on his shoulder.

The duo entered the room and Naruto's grin remained as he waved to a white-haired man in his forties, wearing a lab coat over his red shirt and brown trousers. The man, who was none other than Professor Oak, gave a smile to the boy. "Ah! Naruto-kun! You're finally here!"

He approached the boy and patted him on the back. "Look at you. The last time I saw you, you were just a nine-year-old boy who dreamed to become a Pokémon Champion. Now, all I see is a twelve-year-old boy who looks almost like his own father and I guess his dream still remains the same."

"You got that right, Oak-jiji!" Naruto happily replied. "Once I'm registered, I'm heading straight to Viridian City for my first badge!"

"Confident, aren't you?" Professor Oak chuckled. "If you're anything like your parents, I'm sure that it won't be long before you become Champion. Why don't you wait for a moment while I go and get you your Pokédex? I'm sure the Pichu your father gave me is looking forward to see you before you go off on your journey."

"Consider that done!" Naruto said as he and Kurama ran out of the room, leaving an amused professor to end to his computer.

 _"The boy's going to be a big shot. I just know it,"_ thought the professor.

It wasn't a surprise to him. After all, despite his less than frequent visit to the Namikaze house, he knew that Naruto had picked up his father's intelligence. The boy was a prodigy, in a sense. From just a glance at a battle, the boy would be able to adapt and come up with tactics to counter his opponents. He was unpredictable. A trait that might help him once he's out in the world battling other Trainers.

Professor Oak chuckled to himself from the thought as he resumed to finish registering the boy.

* * *

Naruto was tackled to the ground as soon as he stepped out of the lab and into the backyard. He groaned in pain as he looked up to get a good look at his attacker, only to smile when he saw a Pichu smiling back at him.

"Pichu! Pi! Pi!"

"Glad to see you, Pichu," Naruto said as he got up while Pichu got off the boy, jumping onto Kurama's back much to the annoyance of the Vulpix as he growled softly at the Tiny Mouse Pokémon.

It was well known to Naruto that Kurama didn't like it when anyone, other than him, touched or rest on his back. So to see Pichu being oblivious to the annoyed Vulpix was an amusing thing for Naruto as he laughed at his partner who glared up at him.

With a sigh, he removed Pichu from Kurama's back and placed the Tiny Mouse Pokémon on the ground. "I'm heading off soon, Pichu. I'm not sure when I'll be back but I promise that I'll visit as much as I can. And when I'm back, you'll be looking at the next Pokémon Champion, ttebayo!"

"Chu! Pichu!" The Pichu nodded with a smile as he bumped his tiny fist with Naruto's and they both flashed their own grins while Kurama smirked at them. Though the professor may have raised Pichu, it seemed that the Tiny Mouse Pokémon was every bit like his blond partner. If only Pichu was his Pokémon then people would actually believe it. After all, most Pokémon often take after their Trainers.

"Take care of yourself, Pichu," Naruto said, getting another nod from Pichu as the professor came out of his lab.

"Naruto! Come over here!"

The boy gave Pichu one last pat on the head before making his way to the professor, where he was presented with a Pokédex. "Here it is, Naruto. Your very own Pokédex," said the professor as he handed it over to the boy before presenting five Pokéballs. "Also, as a tradition, I have to give you these five extra Pokéballs for you so you can catch any Pokémon you encounter on the way that you might want to catch."

"The boy's only going to catch the ones that catch his interest, Oak!" A voice called out.

Professor Oak only rolled his eyes as he turned to meet the newcomer, who had spiky white hair with the back tied into a ponytail, with two shoulder-length bangs framing his face. He also wore a green short shirt kimono and matching pants with a red haori over it while a pair of wooden sandals covered his feet.

"Ero-Kyoufu!" Naruto excitedly cried, causing the man to face plant on the ground while Professor Oak laughed.

"How dare you, gaki!" The man yelled. "That's no way to call your godfather like that! So much for respecting your elders."

"Don't be like that, Jiraiya," the professor said, waving a hand dismissively at him. "If the great 'Toad Sage' hadn't peeked at any girls that he come across, then Naruto would have respected you like you would have wanted."

Jiraiya could only grumble as he folded his arms and looks away with a pout. "And to think I came to give him a present…"

"A present?" Naruto repeated with a tilt of his head with Kurama following his example as they stared at Jiraiya who gave them a slight smirk as he reached for his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball, tossing it over to the boy.

As Naruto caught it, the capsule split open and a white light emerged from it, taking the form of a Froakie who rubbed his eyes tiredly. Jiraiya smiled at the boy. "Since you're beginning your journey, Gamabunta and I decided to let his son, Gamakichi, join you. That little Froakie's been itching for some adventure."

"Fro!" Gamakichi croaked as he smiled up at Naruto.

The boy returned the smile with his own. "Well then, I'm glad you're joining me, Kichi. Because you're now a part of the future Pokémon Champion of Kanto's Pokémon team, dattebayo!" Gamakichi, nicknamed Kichi, croaked happily as he hugged the boy while giving a thumbs up to Kurama, who nodded back.

"Looks like they're bonding already," Jiraiya mused. "Gamabunta would have loved to see this. Too bad he's stuck in the Pokémon Center at the moment."

This time, Professor Oak turned to him with widened eyes. "He's in the Center? How?!"

"I'll explain everything later after Naruto leaves," Jiraiya replied quietly. "This is not for him to hear. He's just a kid."

Professor Oak gave him a nod and turned to Naruto. "Well, my boy, since there's nothing else, have fun on your journey and don't forget to catch as many Pokémon as you can. The Pokédex needs to be completed, after all."

"No problem, Oak-jiji!" Naruto replied as he picked up Kurama in his arms while Kichi leapt onto his shoulder. "I'll make sure to complete it while I'm battling the Gyms. See you next time when I come back to visit!"

As the duo-turned-trio head back into the lab to make their way out, the professor gave Jiraiya a serious look and spoke. "I'll get Minato and Kushina. They'll need to know about this as much as I do."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that's the end of the first chapter. How do you guys find it?**

 **Anyway, with that done, I'd like to get to the important part of this story. Since this is the** **Pokémon world, where wars are less than the ones in Naruto world, a lot of dead characters from the Naruto world will be alive and those who were already alive will be quite OOC, so I'm apologizing in advance in case any of you won't like that idea. Like I said, this is my first Naruto story so I'm not used to it just yet.**

 **This story will be based on the game, so Ash doesn't exist in this world but I'll be adding some elements of the anime. But that doesn't mean that I won't add my own arcs in this story. So you can expect some extra adventures that Naruto will have along the way.**

 **Since Chakra doesn't exist in this story, the Sharingan, Byakugan and Rinnegan won't exist along with any Jutsu. And because they don't exist, the Uchiha and Hyūga clans will be less stuck up than they were in the anime.**

 **Lastly, Sakura won't be so useless. Aren't you guys just sick and tired of seeing stories where Sakura just screams and calls Naruto useless and stupid while she just acts like a fangirl and be useless herself?**

 **Other than that, I hope you guys will support this story and I'll see you next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Viridian Pokémon Center

**A/N: Okay, I wasn't expecting that many of you to like this so much but still, thanks for the support guys! Here's the second chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own** **Pokémon** **or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **Chapter 2: Viridian Pokémon Center**

"What did you say?! Bunta-kun is in the Pokémon Center?!"

Minato narrowed his eyes on the computer screen, where it displayed a frowning Jiraiya and a serious looking Professor Oak. He took a glance at his wife, seeing that her anger was going up by the minute. After all, it was a known fact by them that Kushina liked Gamabunta since the Greninja and the redhead herself both shared the same annoyance when it came to Jiraiya's perverse nature, despite the Greninja having his own unhealthy habit of drinking sake.

Looking back at the screen, he saw Jiraiya nod at Kushina. "Yes, Kushina. Gamabunta was seriously wounded when I had brought him into the Pokémon Center in Viridian City."

"But how?" Kushina asked. "Bunta-kun is your strongest Pokémon! Last I checked, not many Pokémon can beat him, much less actually land a hit on him."

"You're right on that as well," Jiraiya replied. "Bunta-kun is strong, but what we faced was just too damn strong even for him. Gamabunta had to fight Team Rocket."

There was a momentary silence. Kushina's eyes had widened along with the professor's while Minato's eyes remained narrowed as he placed his hands under his chin. "So that organization has decided to bounce back up, huh? You must have faced some strong members if Bunta-kun was hurt that badly."

"We faced the Team Rocket's strongest members, their Executives," Jiraiya said. "While I was snooping around one of their bases, my cover was blown and I was forced to fight one of them. What I didn't expect was for them to attack Gamabunta from every direction when he was fighting one of their Pokémon."

Kushina scoffed as she folded her arms. "That's because they play dirty. You should have known that, Jiraiya. They're an organization that steals Pokémon and sells them by any means necessary, for crying out loud!"

"That was my mistake," Jiraiya sighed. "I underestimated them and paid the price. If I had known better, maybe Bunta-kun would have been able to see his son and Naruto-kun off just now."

"What's done is done, Jiraiya," Professor Oak spoke, placing a hand on the Toad Sage's shoulder. "You can't change the past, you can only learn from it and move on. Team Rocket may have beaten you this time, but I'm sure you'll be able to return the favor to them when the time comes."

A small smile formed on Jiraiya's face as he gave him a nod. "Thanks. I needed that. But moving on, despite my failed attempt, I've managed to at least discover something about why Team Rocket has been quiet and what they are planning to do."

"And that would be?" Minato asked.

"A Pokémon clone," Jiraiya replied. "They've been quiet for the past few years because they were searching all over Kanto for a fossil of a Pokémon that I couldn't identify. Apparently, they think that they're getting close to finding whatever fossil it is that they're looking for. From what I've discovered, they have their grunts scavenging Mt. Moon and they're recruiting discreetly."

Hearing this, Kushina gasped. "Naruto! Isn't he heading towards Viridian City? I heard that the Gym Leader of Viridian isn't back yet, so that would mean that Naruto-kun has to travel to Pewter City and then to Cerulean City for his Gym battles and to do that-"

"He has to go through Mt. Moon after Pewter City," Professor Oak finished with a worried look. "The boy's probably halfway to Viridian City by now. We won't be able to catch him in time. Unless he decides to battle a Trainer and heal his Pokémon, we won't be able to contact him."

"Not to worry!" Kushina exclaimed with a smirk. "I know my little boy and I'm sure he'll call us when he reached Viridian City's Pokémon Center. If not, then Team Rocket will be the least of his worries, ttebane!"

Minato sweat dropped at his wife's words. "Well, other than that, I'm sure I can send someone to watch over Naruto. I'm sure Kakashi wouldn't mind doing just that."

"Oh, Sakumo's boy huh?" Jiraiya smiled. "If it's him, then I'm sure Naruto-kun will be safe. The boy's your student isn't he? Then I'm sure that he'll keep Team Rocket away."

"You're just saying that because you're hoping Kakashi corrupts my baby!" Kushina cried, pointing accusingly at the Toad Sage. "If it wasn't for you, Kakashi-kun would have been a well-mannered boy but no, you just had to introduce those smut books of yours to him, didn't you?!"

Jiraiya's eye twitched from her words and he gritted his teeth. "How dare you! They're not smut! They're literature!"

"They're smut and you won't admit it, you pervert!"

"And I'll have you know, what you call smut, I call it the true form of literature! Also, I'm not a pervert. I'm a super pervert!"

While the two continued arguing, both Minato and the professor sweat dropped as they turned to each other. "Regardless, I hope your student will make it in time to help Naruto get through Mt. Moon without encountering Team Rocket."

"You won't have to worry, professor," Minato assured with a smile. "Kakashi's skilled enough to protect him. I would have suggested having Obito look after Naruto but since he's busy with Rin on their little trip at Cinnabar Island, Kakashi's all I have."

Professor Oak sighed. "I can only pray for Naruto and hope he doesn't become a pervert like him…"

* * *

Kurama sighed as he watched his Trainer staring at his Pokédex in awe while Kichi was puffing out his chest proudly. Apparently, Naruto had found out from reading Kichi's information and move set that the Froakie already learned Double Team earlier than he should have thanks to his father, Gamabunta.

Ever since the Vulpix could remember, Naruto always loved the move Double Team from the moment he first witness the move when Minato's Jolteon was sparring with Kushina's Flareon. Of course, after that, he went up to his father and asked him to help Kurama learn that move as well.

At first, Kurama didn't know why he even allowed his Trainer to have Jolteon train him to learn Double Team. It seemed so useless and unnecessary.

But as time went by, even he had realized the potential of the move. Double Team had allowed him to cause distraction that gave him a slight advantage against his opponents. Most of the time he sparred with the other Pokémon in the family, they would find it difficult to spot the real Kurama amongst his duplicates and even Minato was impressed by it when the Vulpix had nearly taken down his Jolteon.

Because of that, Kurama knew for sure that Naruto would want to have all of his Pokémon to learn it and to be honest, he wouldn't mind it. Sure, it would let every Trainer know that he favored the move and would make plans to counter it, but this was Naruto he was talking about. Anyone could come up with a complicated plan against him and the blond would just wreck it within minutes. He was unpredictable, after all.

"Sweet! You know Double Team!" Naruto spoke, breaking Kurama from his thoughts. "Since you already know Pound, Bubble and Quick Attack, we can focus on speed and evasion to help us in battles. What do you think, Kurama?"

The Vulpix merely nodded.

"This is great!" Naruto said. "At least I don't have to worry about training you Double Team since you're probably good at it already. All I need to know now is how good you are at battling. And I know exactly how we're going to find out."

A smile formed on the boy's face as he looked ahead of his Pokémon, who turned to look in the same direction. They spotted a Pidgey perched on a tree, who seemed to be eyeing them curiously with its head tilting sideways.

"What do you say, Kichi? Want to battle and help us get another teammate?" Naruto asked, earning a croak from the Froakie.

* * *

Pidgey didn't really expect this to happen to her at all.

When she had found an Oran berry to enjoy, she expected was a nice breakfast and then fly back to her nest where she would continue the rest of the day sleeping. That all seemed to have changed the moment the blond came into view with his two Pokémon. _Trained_ Pokémon.

Oh, how she was so envious of those two! She could just imagine it. She could imagine herself enjoying a luxurious life of being a pampered Pokémon that's trained and nurtured by humans. All the food that she could eat, that she didn't need to find on her own or challenge other Wild Pokémon for! And the naps. That, she couldn't forget about!

Then, she was snapped out of her imagination when she heard the boy spoke. Though she couldn't hear them, she could make out the words the boy was making. It seemed that the boy was praising the Froakie for being able to learn a move called Double Team.

Pidgey huffed. Was that it? She may not know what Double Team was, but it didn't sound so cool to her. Sure, she may be young and inexperienced but that didn't mean that she didn't have her fair share of battles with the other Wild Pokémon. After all, she didn't always have luck when it came to finding berries to eat since she had to compete with other Pokémon.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Pidgey looked up and blinked when she saw the blond looking right at her with a smile as his Pokémon followed their Trainer, setting their eyes on her. Then, she saw the boy turn to his Froakie and spoke to him. Apparently, they wanted to battle her.

This was it! Her chance to have the life she had always wanted! All she had to do was impress this Trainer and she'll be taken it. Unfortunately for Pidgey, she was too late to realize that she had stepped into a nightmare from the moment the boy had saw her.

* * *

"Alright, Pidgey!" Naruto cried as he and his Pokémon approached the tree where Pidgey was on. "I want to have a battle! You up for it?"

Kurama and Kichi sweat dropped at their Trainer. Who the hell asks a Pokémon if they wanted to battle instead of just attacking? Well, some might oblige but certainly not all and jut attacking was just rude, but still! This was a Pidgey too, one of the weakest Pokémon that any Trainer could catch without any problem. There was no way that it will want to battle.

Shockingly enough, the Pidgey seemed to nod her head which caused Kichi's jaw to drop while Kurama could only shake his head for forgetting who his Trainer was. Leave it to Naruto to make the impossible possible.

Pidgey dropped from the branch she was on and flapped her wings to hover above the ground as Kichi hopped forward in front of Naruto whose grin grew wider. "Alright, why don't you go first, Pidgey? Show us what you got."

The Tiny Bird Pokémon gave him a nod as she gave a flap of her wings and launched herself at Kichi with her beak aimed at him, which Naruto quickly deduced was a Tackle attack.

"It's Tackle, Kichi," Naruto said to the Froakie. "Let's test out your speed first, shall we? Quick Attack to dodge and Pound to counter attack with."

Kichi gave an affirmative nod to Naruto as he was engulfed in a white glow before vanishing in a trail of white, much to Pidgey's shock as he reappeared once more right behind her with his right hand glowing. Before she could react, Kichi slammed his glowing fist against Pidgey's back, sending the Tiny Bird Pokémon crashing into the ground with a pained chirp.

Pidgey got up from the ground and hovered back into the air, aiming a glare at Kichi who gave a sheepish smirk in return as Naruto clapped his hands. "That's some speed, Kichi-kun! Guess being with Ero-Kyoufu and Gamabunta-san was a good thing for you before joining me, huh?" The Froakie croaked in return as Naruto continued. "Right, back to the battle. Let's test out your Bubble, shall we?"

Several bubbles instantly flew out of Kichi's mouth in response, floating over to Pidgey, who dodged the bubbles with ease before flapping her wings at the ground, causing the dust to scatter in the air around Kichi.

"Sand Attack," Naruto mumbled as he watched his second Pokémon rubbed his eyes to rid himself of the dust, which gave Pidgey a chance for a second Tackle attack. "Kichi, jump up now!" The Froakie nodded and leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding a direct hit from the Tiny Bird Pokémon. "Now shoot Bubble upwards!"

All three Pokemon were confused by what the blond Trainer had said, but Kurama quickly understood the meaning behind it, as did Kichi who complied and fired off several bubbles into the air while Pidgey was still left confused as she attempted a third Tackle while Kichi was still in the air.

"Pound, to your right!"

Naruto's command was again acknowledged by Kichi as his right hand glowed while he swung it to the side, backhanding Pidgey's attack and causing the Tiny Bird Pokémon to stumble back in shock as she stared wide eyed at Kichi, who smirked at her, despite still having dust-covered eyes from the previous Sand Attack.

How did he do that?

While that question clouded her mind, she was struck by a bubble that dropped onto her back which caused Pidgey to fall to the ground as she looked up, only to see more bubbles raining down as Kichi drop back to the ground.

The bubbles came down with increased speed but Pidgey was lucky that most of the bubbles didn't even land anywhere near her but she soon panicked when she saw a bubble falling onto Kichi, who grinned when his eyes opened. At this point of time, Pidgey's beak was wide open from the realization that hit her. That previous Bubble attack was not only a delayed attack, but it also served as a counter against her Sand Attack. She did not expect that at all!

Kurama and Naruto, however, grinned. It was a tactic that they had developed together during their younger years when they were learning from Minato and his Pokémon on how to avoid or resolve situations where Naruto's Pokémon were blinded by attacks like Sand Attack. It was thanks to that and Kichi's trust in Naruto that they were able to counter Pidgey's attack in advance.

Speaking of Kichi, he was quite pleased at the outcome of the unexpected plan that his Trainer had. His father's Trainer was right, Naruto was definitely a very interesting human to be with. Seems like it wasn't a bad idea to travel with him after all.

"The plan worked after all," Naruto smiled, pleased with what had happened as he folded his arms. "Okay, now let's move on to the next move. Kichi, use Double Team!"

Before she knew it, Pidgey was immediately surrounded from all sides by illusionary copies of Kichi, much to her disbelief as she looked around at the duplicates who were hopping all around her as she tried to locate the real one.

"Let's finish this off with a Quick Attack and a Pound!"

Kichi and his duplicates all halted and turned to Pidgey, letting their bodies glow white, they charged at her. If Pidgey had thought this would have been easy, well, she regretted it now. As soon as she saw Kichi and his duplicates all around her, she tried to fly up. However, she was struck from the side by the real Kichi, whose hand glowed as he slammed her into the ground with a swing of his hand, forming a small crater from the force he had used as dust gathered around it.

Pidgey could only chirp in pain as she struggled to move her wings. Unfortunately, all she could do was make her wings twitch. Then, a shadow towered over her and as the dust cloud scattered, she saw the blond human smiling down at her with Kurama by his side and Kichi on his shoulder.

"That was a good battle, Pidgey," Naruto said, gently lifting her out of the crater and cradling her in his hands. "You might have lost against Kichi, but you were amazing in your own way." This caused the Pidgey to blush lightly at the compliment she received, much to Naruto's amusement. "How do you like to join us?"

Pidgey blinked. She looked at him with widened eyes, then to Kurama and Kichi, who smiled back at her and nodded. Was this it? Was she finally going to get the life she wanted? All the food and naps without worrying about other Wild Pokémon attacking her? This was not something to come by so easily and who was she to complain?

The Tiny Bird Pokémon looked up at Naruto with a twinkle in her eyes as she chirped and nodded.

Naruto smiled in return as he pulled out a Pokéball from his belt strap and clicked the button on it, causing the capsule to enlarge. "Then welcome to the family, Pidgey!" He gently tapped the Pokéball on her head and a red glow emitted from her body before she was absorbed into the capsule. Then, it shook with a beeping noise and this continued for three more times before it stopped and the remained still. The capture was a success.

"Looks like we caught ourselves a Pidgey guys," Naruto said as he secured the capsule back on his belt strap and lifted Kurama up in his arms. "Time to head to Viridian City. We'll heal Pidgey and then we'll challenge the Gym. I can just see it, guys. Our victory is close!" The two Pokémon nodded in agreement to their Trainer as the blond looked back towards the direction of Pallet Town. "Just watch me, tou-san. The next time we meet, it will be when I challenge you and the other Elite Four, dattebayo!"

* * *

Gamabunta was not having the best of days right now.

Right now, he could have been with his perverted partner to see his son off on his journey with Minato's kid. Instead, here he was, stuck in bed with bandages all over his arms, legs and chest. He blamed Team Rocket for putting him in this mess and giving his left eye a scar, and if he ever saw a single one of those bastards once he was out of the Pokémon Center, he was going to crush them and their Pokémon. No one gets away with wounding him like that, no one.

With a pained groan, he reached for a cup on his right and picked it off the table. He slowly got up in a sitting position and unwrapped his tongue from his neck and let it pull open a drawer that was next to his bed where he picked up a bottle of sake that Jiraiya had sneaked in for him. Bless that super pervert's heart.

He twisted the cap and pulled it off before pouring a small amount into his cup.

Just as he was about to drink it, he felt a hand slapped the back of his head, causing him to drop the cup, spilling the content on the floor. Gamabunta went wide eyed for a moment before turning to glare at the person who dared to deny him his cup of sake, only to pale when he saw who it was.

"Now what did I tell you, mister? No sake while you're in my Pokémon Center!"

Gamabunta wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was very afraid of the woman standing right in front of him. With her bright blue eyes narrowed at him, she folded her arms against her white nurse apron. This woman was none other than Nurse Joy. Well, one of the many Nurse Joys anyway.

"Gre…"

"Don't you try to argue with me," Nurse Joy interrupted, making Gamabunta flinch as she swiped the bottle away from his grasp. "I don't know how Jiraiya-sama managed to hide this from me, but I'm not letting you have it until you're all better. When I see that pervert, he's going to pay dearly."

Gamabunta sweat dropped. There was nothing he could say about that but he had to at least pity Jiraiya…not. He deserves the beat down he would probably get when he comes back from Pallet Town. That's what he get for getting caught peeking at women in the local bathhouse or for 'accidentally' stepping into the ladies' washroom when Nurse Joy was in there.

The Greninja could only watch in horror as the pink-haired nurse tossed the bottle into the garbage bin before giving him a stern look. But just as she was about to speak, her Pokémon, a Chansey, strolled in with a stretcher where a mildly injured Pidgey was resting on and placed it right beside Gamabunta.

"Oh?" Nurse Joy's interest peaked when she saw the Tiny Bird Pokémon and she turned towards Chansey. "Is it another Pidgey recently caught?" Chansey gave her a nod and a smile while the Pidgey chirped happily. "Then just give it the usual procedure. Have the other Chansey use Heal Pulse. Any idea of what the Trainer's name is?"

"No need for that, Joy-san!"

Everyone's eyes turned towards the door, where Gamabunta's eyes widened when he spotted his son perched comfortably on the shoulder of a blond kid who looked like a mini Minato. No doubt about it, the blond was definitely Minato's son, Naruto.

Kichi's mouth curled up into a grin when he spotted his father and he leapt down from Naruto's shoulder before hopping towards his father. "Fro! Froakie!" The two shared a somewhat awkward embrace, no thanks to Gamabunta's still recovering arms and the bandages wrapped around them.

"Ah! Gamabunta! What are you doing here?!" Naruto cried, running over to the bed and placing Kurama down.

Before Gamabunta could reply, Nurse Joy spoke to him. "I see you are quite familiar with Jiraiya-sama's Greninja. Well, to answer your question, young man, this Greninja is here because he needs to recover after getting into a battle that he couldn't win."

"Eh?! Gamabunta lost? How?"

The Greninja in question could only look away from the boy with a twitch in his eye. This was definitely not his day at all. If only he hadn't faced those Team Rocket cowards, he wouldn't even be in this situation. Luckily for him, Nurse Joy spoke.

"Who are you anyway, young man?"

Naruto turned to Nurse Joy with a smile, already forgetting about his question about Gamabunta's loss. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Kanto's next Pokémon Champion, ttebayo!"

"Wait…Naruto?" Nurse Joy's eyes suddenly widened and she gasped as a smile slowly crept onto her face. "The same Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze who attended Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp two years ago?"

"Uh…yeah?"

This time, Nurse Joy's smile stretched further. "I heard a lot about you, Naruto-kun. My little niece has said quite a lot about both you and Sasuke Uchiha the last time I saw her at the family reunion."

"Wait, niece?" Naruto's mind started refreshing his memories of the Summer Camp his parents had him attend. Who was this niece she was talking about? After a few moments, a memory popped up in his mind of a pink-haired girl similar to Nurse Joy. Sakura Haruno. "Ah! You must be talking about Sakura-chan!"

Nurse Joy nodded, her smile still present on her face. "That's right. I heard from little Sakura-chan that you and Sasuke-kun teamed up with her during the camp. She wouldn't stop talking about your 'little Kurama-kun' either."

Hearing that, Kurama sweat dropped and gave the pink-haired nurse a blank look while Naruto held back a laugh.

"That sounds like her," Naruto smiled. "She had a Happiny with her too, if I remembered correctly."

"Yep," Nurse Joy replied with a nod. "Her Happiny recently evolved last month too when she registered as a Pokémon Trainer." The nurse then let out a sigh. "I still don't know why she doesn't want to follow the family and become a nurse like the rest of the Joys."

"Well, she did tell me that she wanted to be different." Naruto stated.

Nurse Joy shook her head, disappointed but a bit pleased. "Well, if that's what she wants, who am I to say anything." Her face then brightened. "Aside from that, I'm guessing it's your turn to start your journey, huh? And you've already caught your first Pokémon too."

Naruto nodded to her. "That's right! Like I said, you're looking at the next Pokémon Champion!"

"That won't be hard for me to believe," Nurse Joy said. "From what Sakura-chan has told me about you and who your parents are, I'm sure that you'll make it, Naruto-kun. But first, let me heal your Pidgey. It must have been a tough fight."

The blond shrugged. "It was nothing, Joy-san. Pidgey put up a good fight too. She might have lost but she has potential. So I'm going to train her while I'm traveling to the Gyms."

"Just don't overdo it, Naruto-kun," Nurse Joy replied, earning a nod from the boy as she escorted the boy out of the room after letting him give Gamabunta a quick farewell and picking up his two other Pokémon.

* * *

They made their way back to the lobby, where Nurse Joy got back to the front desk. "Naruto-kun, since you're planning to become the Pokémon Champion that would mean that you'll have to face the Elite Four, right?"

"That's right."

"So does that mean you'll be competing in the Indigo League?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course I am. Tou-san said that if I want to battle him and the other Elite Four members, I'll have to compete in the Indigo League to secure my spot. Kaa-chan also said it could be a great warm up before I battle him too."

The pink-haired nurse laughed at the boy's last words before smiling. "If so, then please hand me your Pokédex. I'll need to use it to register you for it." The boy did as he was told, taking out his Pokédex and handing it over to Nurse Joy who quickly turned on her computer.

After a while, she smiled and handed it back to Naruto. "There you go, Naruto-kun. You're registered into the League now."

"Thanks a lot, Joy-san!"

Nurse Joy nodded. "You're welcome, Naruto-kun. Oh! And before I forget, Sasuke-kun is actually here in the Center right now too. He came here to challenge the Viridian Gym but unfortunately the Gym Leader's not around at the moment so he decided to stay here until the Gym Leader comes back."

"Eh? Sasuke's here? Is he competing in the League too?"

"He is, Naruto-kun," Nurse Joy replied. "He registered for it when he was in Cerulean City. Since he started his journey ahead of you and Sakura-chan, he's already up to three badges. The Pewter Gym's Boulder Badge, the Cerulean City's Cascade Badge and Fuchsia Gym's Soul Badge."

Naruto smirked. "He sure works fast." He had to admit, Sasuke's set was quite impressive.

He remembered during summer camp when Sasuke had told him about how he had planned on surpassing his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who was almost on par with Minato's skills. Sasuke wouldn't stop about how awesome his brother was and how he was going to challenge him when he becomes a Trainer himself. Sasuke had told him that the only way Itachi would battle him was if he could prove to himself to Itachi but since Sasuke didn't know what he meant by that, he guessed that it would mean that Itachi wanted him to beat all the Gyms, much to Naruto's amusement.

"Sasuke-kun is probably at the cafeteria with his Charmeleon," Nurse Joy said. "He's been battling the local Trainers who came by and he's been winning them every time. If I remembered correctly, he said something about them not giving him a challenge."

A sigh left Naruto's mouth. "That's definitely Sasuke. Thanks, Joy-san. I'll see you again when Pidgey's healed." The pink-haired nurse only nodded as she watch the boy walk away.


	3. Chapter 3: Sasuke Uchiha

**A/N: Well, that two month delay was horrible, wasn't it? Sorry for that. My procrastination kicked in during July, which was also my exam month so it meant that I had a lot of exams last month. Engineering is stressful as hell...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

 **Review corner:**

 **readerwriter: Thanks for taking the time to write some criticism for me. I appreciate it. As for the fillers during the first chapter, that was more of a 'on the spot' kind of writing I was doing when I first wrote that so I left it there. But there won't be anymore of those in the future. Though I hope what I wrote in this chapter isn't considered a filler either...**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Sasuke Uchiha**

To think that he would meet Sasuke this early in his journey was quite a shock for Naruto as he made his way towards the direction of the cafeteria that Nurse Joy had pointed out to him. "It's been a long time since we've seen Sasuke and Amaterasu. How much do you think they've changed?"

"Vul~, Vulpix," Kurama replied.

Naruto chuckled in response. "Joy-san said that Sasuke's been battling a lot and that he's already earned three Gym Badges. We've a lot to catch up if we're ever going to reach him as he is now." He felt the Vulpix in his arms squirmed a little. "Yeah, I know we can do it. He may have a head start, but we'll make it in time before the League starts."

Kurama gave his Trainer a simple nod. He had to admit though, he was impressed when he heard that the shy little Charmander he met and kept safe from harm at the Summer Camp had already evolved into a Charmeleon who apparently helped her Trainer win three Gym Badges, and at least he hoped that was true. Sasuke might have probably caught a few other Pokémon as well so it was yet to be confirmed.

His blond, whiskered Trainer, on the other hand, was reminiscing about the first day of the Summer Camp where he had met Sasuke and Sakura. The day that Team Seven was born.

* * *

 _Flashback:_

 _"Do I have to go to this camp?" A young ten year-old Naruto had asked as he gave his parents a pout while adjusting the backpack on his back as they made their way towards the campsite, which was just a few miles away from the back of Pallet Town._

 _Minato gave the boy a smile. "Of course, Naruto. Professor Oak has planned this camp for a few months now and since he invited you, it would be rude of you to not come. Besides, it will be nice if you could make some new friends at the camp. I heard that a lot of kids from all around Kanto are going to be there."_

 _"That's right, Naruto-kun," Kushina added with a nod. "A few of my friends said that their kids will be attending the camp too, so it will be nice if you could be friends with them too."_

 _"Whatever," Naruto sighed. "How long is this camp anyway?"_

 _"It's just a month long, Naruto," Minato replied._

 _Another sigh escaped Naruto's mouth as he continued walking alongside his parents with Kurama trailing just behind them along with Electivire and Incineroar. Unlike how Naruto was feeling, Kurama was rather looking forward to the camp. From what Electivire had told him before, the camp will be filled with a lot of Pokémon who could probably give him a challenge. Hopefully, his Trainer would realize this soon as well._

 _"Look there, Naruto, there's the campsite," Kushina said, pointing in front of them with a grin. "What do you think of it?"_

 _Naruto shrugged, but mentally, he was rather impressed by the camp. It wasn't the stereotypical tents and campfire kind of setup, but the camp looked better._

 _Ten log cabins were lined up close to each other in two rows which had a huge pathway in between for people to walk on. Of course, there was a campfire, but it was rather big compared to what Naruto used to see. The camp was right next to the ocean too where Naruto spotted a lone Gyarados emerging from the water before diving back in while a flock of Wingull flew overhead in the direction of the Hoenn region._

 _A Pokémon Center was also in the camp, sandwiched between two bigger sized cabins. The cabin on the right of the Pokémon Center was probably where the camp staff would be staying in since it looked almost like the rest of the log cabins except its bigger size. The second cabin, judging from the cooks walking around with trays of food ingredients, was the cafeteria._

 _Then, Naruto looked over at the beach, where he spotted a group of kids who looked to be his age playing around with their Pokémon. Unlike the Trainers who Naruto would often see when they come to challenge his father in unofficial battles, the kids who were battling didn't seem too serious and they looked like they were having fun and so did the Pokémon. It was definitely a nice change of pace in Naruto's opinion._ "Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea after all," _the boy thought as he and his parents made their way towards the Pokémon Center._

 _As they reached the front of the Center, they were greeted by the professor himself. Alongside him, was a man who, Naruto observed, had his hair tied in a ponytail and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. The man wore a navy blue, long-sleeved shirt and jeans with a clipboard in his hand and a smile on his face._

 _"Minato! Kushina! I'm so glad you could make it," Professor Oak said as he greeted them before looking down to see the whiskered boy smiling back at him. "And this must be little Naruto. You've grown quite a lot, little guy."_

 _The scarred man bowed to them. "It's an honor to meet you, Namikaze-san. My name's Iruka Umino, I'm the Camp Counselor of this year's camp."_

 _"Please, just call me Minato," said Naruto's father, waving off Iruka's formal greeting. "Though I am surprised. Since Professor Oak's the one who organized the camp, I had thought that it would be him who's in charge."_

 _Iruka and the professor laughed as Professor Oak explained to him. "Well, that's true. I may have organized this camp, but I'm more of a sponsor than anything else. No matter how many assistants I hire back at the lab, I'll always be needed back there so I have no time to attend to the campers. Iruka, however, does."_

 _The scarred man nodded. "I used to be a teacher back in Hoenn before I moved to Kanto. When I heard that Professor Oak was offering a job here, I applied for it and voila, here I am."_

 _"Eh, a teacher?" Kushina smiled. "Then you must have experience with dealing with children, huh? This job is definitely perfect for you." Then, she turned towards the professor. "So what's going to happen during the camp, Professor Oak? You didn't mention to us what the kids will be doing while they're here."_

 _Professor Oak only smiled back. "Well, that's simple. The kids will be teamed up in groups of three and since this is the first day, nothing much will happen so all they'll be doing today is getting to know one another. The rest of the month, we'll be getting them to do some activities with their team and Pokémon as well as training their Pokémon so that they can prepare for their Pokémon journey. Of course, as tradition, there will be Pokémon battles now and then, and team battles on the last day of camp."_

 _The moment the professor had mentioned battles, Naruto was certain that he was going to enjoy his time here and when he looked down at Kurama, he could see that the Vulpix was just as excited as he was and Naruto couldn't help but grin as Iruka gestured for the blond to follow him._

 _"Follow me, Naruto-kun," Iruka said. "I'll bring you over to the cabin you'll be staying in. Your other teammates are already here so take the time to get to know them."_

 _"Have fun, sochi!" Kushina cried, waving to the boy who waved back as he and Kurama followed Iruka to the log cabins._

 _Minato, too, waved to him but stopped when Naruto was out of sight. "He's going to be fine. Who are he's teammates anyway?"_

 _The professor replied with a smirk. "I'm sure if I tell you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it? Just to give you a hint, one of them is the son of one of Kushina's friends. The other's a close relative to Nurse Joy."_

 _As Iruka and Naruto made their way down the path between the log cabins, they stopped when they reached the cabin with the number '7' on the cabin's door. "This here will be your cabin for the rest of the month. Now let's head in and introduce you to your teammates."_

 _He twisted the knob on the door and pushed it opened._

 _Not a second later, a ball of pink leapt in their direction and slammed into Iruka, sending the scarred man flying out of the cabin as the ball of pink dropped onto the floor, revealing itself to be a grinning Happiny who cheered at what she had done._

 _"Ah! Sorry, Iruka-sensei! Happiny was just trying to show off her strength, it was an accident!" A pink-haired girl cried as she picked up the Happiny._

 _Iruka let out a groan as he got up, rubbing his stomach as he walked back into the cabin. "It's alright, Sakura. As long as it wasn't intentional, I don't mind."_

 _"That Happiny of yours sure packs quite a punch," Naruto commented with a smile as he approached the girl, known as Sakura, and gently petted Happiny's head, who seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting._

 _Sakura smiled back. "Thanks! Let me guess, you're my other teammate, right?"_

 _Iruka stepped in, answering for Naruto. "This here is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the final member of Team seven. Naruto, this girl is Sakura Haruno. She's a relative of the Nurse Joy who's overseeing the camp's Pokémon Center."_

 _"That explains the pink hair," Naruto added. "It's nice to meet you, Haruno-san."_

 _"Just call me Sakura," she replied, waving off his earlier words. "I'm not one for formalities like my family. But I'm not sure about you, though. Your family name's Uzumaki_ Namikaze _, right? Does that mean you're related to Minato Namikaze of the Elite Four?"_

 _Naruto nodded. "I'm his son. But I'm just like you, I hate formalities. Too bad it's necessary for certain events. So just call me Naruto!"_

 _"Anyway…" Iruka cut in. "You guys can talk to each other later. Sakura, where's Sasuke? Isn't he supposed to be here as well?"_

 _"Sasuke-kun's out at the back," Sakura replied, pointing towards the backdoor of the cabin. "He said he wanted to start training his Charmander as soon as possible. I'll introduce him to Naruto."_

 _Iruka nodded to her as he turned to leave. "Well, I guess that's it for me then. Remember kids, dinner's in a few hours so make sure to be at the cafeteria by then."_

 _"Will do!" Sakura cheerfully said as she grabbed Naruto's hand while dropping her Happiny down on a bed behind her. "Come on, Naruto. I'm sure Sasuke-kun will like to meet you too."_

 _Without any objection, Naruto allowed himself to be dragged away. Turning to Kurama, he gave him a nod which the Vulpix understood was a silent gesture to tell him to stay put, so the Vulpix simply laid down on the floor and curled up, wrapping his tails around himself as he watched his Trainer leave the room, leaving him with the Happiny who seemed to eye him curiously. Without any warning, Kurama was tackled by the baby Pokémon, who wrapped her tiny arms around Kurama's neck in a hug as she nuzzled against his cheek, causing him to sweat drop. This was going to be a long month…_

 _Outside, the two humans were greeted to a sight of a Charmander practicing her Flamethrower attack on a tree, leaving behind a fairly large scorch mark. Behind the Charmander, was her Trainer. His spiky black hair hung over his face as bangs. He donned a black long-sleeved shirt with a high collar with a similar colored shorts. Then, the Trainer turned to face the two newcomers._

 _"Sasuke-kun, our final member's here," Sakura said as she stepped to the side to reveal Naruto._

 _The boy, revealed to be Sasuke, smiled at Naruto and waved to him. "It's nice to meet you. Name's Sasuke Uchiha and this is my Charmander, Amaterasu." Naruto greeted back by introducing himself, to which caused Sasuke's eyes to widen slightly upon hearing his family name. "Oh, you're the son of Minato Namikaze, aren't you? Then you must have seen my brother, Itachi Uchiha, when he came to battle your father."_

 _The whiskered blond blinked at him before his lips curled into a grin. "Eh? So that guy was your brother, huh? Man, I remember when he came to Pallet Town to challenge tou-san. Almost won too if tou-san hadn't beaten his Weavile."_

 _"I know," Sasuke nodded. "Itachi-nii said that it was one of his best battles that he's ever had. To think that you were attending this camp…this has definitely become very interesting. So what's your Pokémon? I know that Sakura-chan has a Happiny, so what did you bring to the camp?"_

 _Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the cabin's backdoor flung open. They turned around to look, only to find Kurama running towards Naruto with Happiny chasing after him. The Vulpix leapt into Naruto's arms, shivering in slight fear while Sakura went to pick up her Happiny._

 _"Oops, my bad," Sakura laughed nervously. "Happiny's a very friendly one. When she sees anyone who interests her, she hugs them, a bit too tight for anyone's comfort. Sorry about that."_

 _Naruto shrugged. "Meh. I'm sure Kurama will get used to it. He's my Vulpix. Raised him up myself too."_

 _"Two Fire types and a Normal, quite a common combination we have for a team," Sasuke said as he looked at his Charmander, who was currently hiding behind his leg, causing him to sigh. "Sorry about Amaterasu. She's just shy around new faces."_

 _"Char~!" Amaterasu whined softly from behind the young Uchiha._

 _"It's alright," Naruto said. "I'm sure she'll be fine around Kurama. He won't bite."_

 _Kurama, however, sweat dropped at his Trainer. The only thing on his mind was probably how this camp was going to both exciting and troublesome. A shy Charmander and an over-friendly Happiny as his partners in battles, how was he going to work with that?_

* * *

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. He and Kurama knew each other too well to know what they both were thinking and he couldn't help but find his partner's situation amusing.

During the duration of the camp, Kurama was always the one protecting Amaterasu during Pokémon battles since the then Charmander would always hesitate to attack, which would allow the opposing Pokémon to attack but since Kurama was there, Amaterasu was protected. Overtime, Naruto and Sasuke would also notice the unusual behavior Amaterasu was displaying every time she was near Kurama and would always run back to Sasuke and hide behind him with a slight blush.

Of course, they soon figured out what was going on with the Charmander when they had talked to Sakura. Apparently, she had developed a crush on the Vulpix, much to Kurama's dismay and misfortune while the three Trainers had quite a laugh.

Kurama had wanted to let the Charmander know that he didn't had feelings for her, but every single time he tried to do so, Amaterasu would be hiding behind an amused Sasuke who always had a sly smirk on his face whenever he looked at Kurama.

Naruto was immediately brought back to reality when he and Kurama stepped into the cafeteria.

It wasn't as crowded as he would have expected, but then again, with the absence of the Gym Leader, very few Pokémon Trainers would be traveling to Viridian City since they would be wasting their time here. Currently, the cafeteria only had a handful of people and a few were already making their way out. However, a Trainer sitting by a window had caught his attention.

The Trainer was none other than Sasuke Uchiha himself. In the span of two years since they saw each other, the boy's hairstyle barely changed. However, his clothes were a different case. His black clothing was gone, replaced by a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, white shorts and white arm warmers. On the back of his shirt was the symbol of a fan where the top was red and the bottom was white, it was the symbol of the Uchiha.

Naruto smirked as he approached him as quietly as he could. Unfortunately for him, it didn't take long for Sasuke to figure out what he was doing as he had turned his head around, giving Naruto a mock surprised look. "Well look who decided to grace me with his presence. Long time no see, blondie."

"Good to see you too, Sasuke," Naruto replied as he took a seat next to him and blinked when he saw the Charmeleon seating just across the black-haired boy. "Nice to see you, Amaterasu-chan. You've grown a lot since the last time I've seen you."

Amaterasu nodded, looking back at him with a proud smile on her face, which instantly crumbled as soon as she saw who had sat down next to her. In the next moment, her bright red scales darkened as soon as she caught sight of the Vulpix and the flame on her tail grew slightly as she started nervously fiddling with her claws.

Kurama sweat dropped at the female Charmeleon's actions and he discreetly gave the two Trainers a glare when he saw them holding back their laughter. It wasn't like he wanted to be next to the girl who had a crush on him, there wasn't any seat left!

Once they had quelled their laughter, Sasuke turned his attention back to his blond friend. "So you finally started, huh? Took you quite a while. Everyone else began earlier this year and they're already traveling around Kanto."

"Not my fault my mother won't let me go," Naruto grumbled. "I was lucky she finally gave in to the idea that I was ready to become a Trainer."

A chuckle escaped Sasuke's mouth. "Ready? Did you already forget about the team battle we had on the final day of the camp? I'd say that you're more than ready. I mean, if you had started earlier, I'd say that you would have the same number of badges as I have, possibly even more!"

Naruto shrugged. "It's a benefit, I guess, to have an Elite Four member as a father who taught me everything he knew about Pokémon battles."

"Lucky you," said Sasuke.

"Enough about me. Tell me about what you've been doing," said Naruto. "Aside from winning those three badges, of course. Caught any new Pokémon?"

The black-haired boy nodded, taking out two Pokéballs and placing them on the table. "Itachi-nii brought me over to the Safari Zone before I left. Caught myself a Nidorino and a Rhyhorn. They've been great to work with and Amaterasu's been getting some experiences while sparring with them. What about you?"

Naruto brought out Kichi's Pokéball. "My godfather paid me a visit when I was registering to become a Trainer. Gamabunta's kid decided to join me. Other than him, I just caught a Pidgey."

"Should have gone with a Spearow, they're tougher," Sasuke remarked with a smirk. "But knowing you, I guess that Pidgey was lucky. After all, you only catch those that interest you."

"You know me all too well, Sasuke," Naruto chuckled as he grabbed Kichi's Pokéball. "So how about it? One match for old times' sake?"

The Uchiha shrugged. "Why not? Nobody's gave me a challenge so far and since you're here, might as well see if you're still as good as you were back at the camp."

* * *

The two Trainers made their way out to the back of the Center, where an empty battlefield greeted them as Sasuke walked over to the opposite end, turning towards Naruto. "So how do you want this battle to be?"

"One-on-one with a five minute time limit will do for now," Naruto replied. "I want to train Gamakichi so I decided to kill two Pidgey with one stone by challenging you."

"I see," Sasuke muttered, bringing out his Nidorino's Pokéball. "But let me warn you first, Naruto. My Nidorino's no pushover."

A scoff escaped Naruto's lips. "That's what Kiba said about Akamaru before Kurama kicked his ass." Kurama couldn't help but snicker at the memory of that event. That Growlithe sure didn't know what bit him.

"Your sense of humor's still there," Sasuke rolled his eyes as he tossed the capsule onto the ground, causing it to release the Pokémon within it. A white glow emerged, quickly taking the form of a Nidorino before vanishing, revealing said Pokémon who let out a roar.

Naruto whistled, clearly impressed with how Sasuke had taken care of his Nidorino. "Not bad, Sasuke. You really took Iruka-sensei's lesson to heart. Your Nidorino looks healthier than the ones I've seen before."

"Once you've capture a Pokémon, they become part of your family. That's why you should take good care of them. Wasn't that what you and Iruka-sensei taught me?" The black-haired boy smirked. "Come on, show me your Pokémon. I'm itching for a good fight."

Bringing out Kichi's Pokéball, the whiskered blond tossed it, allowing the Froakie to emerge from his capsule and landing right in front of him. Gamakichi looked around curiously, wondering why he was brought out but his eyes narrowed slightly when he caught sight of the Nidorino in front of him. Turning around, he saw his Trainer and Kurama smiling at him.

"Yo, Kichi," Naruto greeted. "I told you I'd be training you as soon as I can. Guess what? I ran into a friend of mine and decided to have a spar. You up for a battle?" A croak from Kichi was all he got, but Naruto knew what that meant and his smile grew wider. "Alright then." He looked towards Sasuke. "Who's going to start?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. I usually go second in my battles so I guess you could go first, Naruto."

The whiskered blond nodded. "Okay. Kichi, start with Quick Attack."

Kichi complied with the order. In an instant, his body glowed white and soon, he vanished in a flash of white, heading straight towards Nidorino, who stood his ground with his arms shivering in anticipation as his eyes followed the trail Kichi was leaving behind.

A chuckle left Sasuke's mouth. "Still the same old Naruto. Always charging in with speed. Hiroki, brace yourself. Once that Froakie attacks, counterattack with Poison Jab."

Hiroki, the now-named Nidorino, gave his Trainer a nod and crouched, bracing himself as he saw Kichi appear right in front of him, landing a punch on his cheek. In that moment, Hiroki pushed the Froakie back before grabbing Kichi's leg with his jaw while his front claws were raised up. The Nidorino's claws glowed purple and then, it flew down, aiming to strike Kichi.

"Use Pound to free yourself and Bubble to push back!"

With a hand glowing brightly, Kichi slammed his hand down onto Hiroki's snout, causing the Nidorino to growl out in pain as his grip loosened, giving Kichi his chance to escape before the Poison Jab could hit him. As Kichi dropped to the ground, he spewed out bubbles at Hiroki.

Watching his Nidorino being pushed back, Sasuke spoke. "Your Froakie's Bubble might be a bit slow, but it sure packs quite the punch. But that won't be enough. Hiroki, use Double Kick!"

"Too bad for you, I'm always prepared," Naruto retorted. "Kichi, Double Team!"

Hiroki's hind legs began to glow as he crouched slightly. Then, he launched himself towards the Froakie, who smirked as he glowed as well. However, before Hiroki got close enough to execute his Double Kick, Kichi had duplicated himself multiple times.

Sasuke let out a sigh before looking over at Naruto. "I see you're still using Double Team. I should have known. Hiroki, get back and use Thunderbolt!"

Yellow sparks crackled as Hiroki backed away a few steps. At the same time, Kichi realized the danger he was in and without waiting for Naruto's order, he and his duplicates began leaping all over the battlefield. Unfortunately for him, his speed proved to be useless against an experienced and trained Pokémon.

Hiroki roared as bolts of electricity shot all over the battlefield, destroying Kichi's duplicates. One bolt made its way to Kichi and struck the Froakie's arm, causing Kichi to grit his teeth as he collapsed onto the ground and tumbled before stopping in front of Naruto.

The blond knelt down and placed a hand on Kichi, flinching slightly when he felt a shock from the electricity that struck his Pokémon. "You alright, Kichi?" As much as the Froakie wanted to know if his Trainer was being sarcastic or not, he ignore the urge and nodded, getting back up as a momentarily sting shot through his body.

"I'm impressed, Naruto," Sasuke said. "I specifically trained my Nidorino to perfect the use of Thunderbolt so that he could beat any Water Pokémon with it in a single move. To think that your Froakie survived that…it's so just like you."

Naruto chuckled. "What can I say? I'm awesome, dattebayo." His attention went back to his Pokémon. "Kichi, let's up your speed. Quick Attack! And let's add Double Team as a diversion."

The familiar white glow of the attack soon coated Kichi's body as his duplicates returned, following the original as they lunged forward at the Nidorino, disappearing in white flashes. Hiroki, on the other hand, darted his eyes throughout the battlefield, looking left and right, hoping to distinguish the real Kichi from his duplicates.

Without any warning, Hiroki was struck from behind by the Froakie, causing him to fall face first into the ground as Kichi hopped off his back and grinned as he turned to face Naruto. "Fro!"

"Nice job, Kichi. Now Bubble, before he gets up."

"Not on my watch, Naruto," Sasuke said. "Hiroki, use Dig!"

As bubbles were shot out from Kichi's mouth, Hiroki's body twitched for a moment before digging his paws into the ground and pulled out parts of it, creating a hole for him to dive in as the bubbles flew right passed him.

"Leap into the air, Kichi!" Naruto ordered. "Then use your Bubble in the hole to draw that Nidorino out!"

Doing as he was told, the Froakie was up in the air in no time and with his cheeks puffed out, he spewed more bubbles into the hole that Hiroki had dug. However, Sasuke smirked. As the bubbles approached the hole, Sasuke called out to his Nidorino.

"Hiroki, dig out and use Poison Jab!"

The Nidorino shot out from the ground, a few feet away from the hole he had dug before and leapt into the air, causing Kichi to widen his eyes in shock as Hiroki's paws glowed purple, signaling the attack.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto remembered a crucial information about Kichi when he had read the Froakie's data. And to the blond's luck, he was now able to put it to good use. "Kichi, expand your Frubbles and absorb the blow. Then hit back hard with your strongest Bubble attack!"

Gamakichi's shock faded away instantly when he had heard his Trainer's voice and he followed his orders, letting the mane of white bubbles around his neck to rapidly expand as Hiroki's attack struck him, sending Kichi flying across the battlefield. With a flip, Kichi skidded on the ground and stopped in front of his blond Trainer before falling to a knee and panted heavily, his Frubbles slowly shrinking back to its original size. At the same time, Kichi spewed his Bubble attack at Hiroki, nailing a direct hit on the Nidorino as he crashed on his back while a dust cloud formed around him.

Once it had settled, Sasuke smiled at the sight of his Nidorino, who was breathing heavily while keeping his balance, trying his best not to collapse. Unfortunately for him, the time limit of the spar had reached its five minute mark, ending the spar and making it a draw between the two Trainers.

"I've got to say, Naruto, for a Froakie, he sure packs quite a punch. This is the first time a Pokémon, aside from my brother's Pokémon, has pushed Hiroki to his limits. As expected of you and your Pokémon, blondie."

"Thanks, Sasuke," the whiskered blond replied, giving Gamakichi a light pet on the head before returning him to his Pokéball. "I appreciate the compliment and I'm sure Kichi-kun does as well. But you're not giving your Nidorino enough credit too. He's strong, possibly on par with Choji's Pokémon."

"Hey!" The black-haired boy gave a mock glare. "I'll have you know that Hiroki _is_ stronger than Choji's Pokémon!" He approached Hiroki and gave him a quick scratch on his jaw and the Nidorino growled softly before Sasuke returned him to his capsule. Once the Pokéball was secured on his belt, he walked over to Naruto.

A smirk formed on Sasuke's face as he continued. "I found Choji in Pewter City when I was there to earn my badge from the Pewter City Gym. He wasn't alone though. That lazy Nara and bossy Yamanaka was with him. Anyway, after we got our badges, I challenged him to a friendly battle and I won against his Munchlax."

"…You sure?"

Sasuke's eye twitched when he saw Naruto's skeptical look. Though he probably couldn't blame him. After all, Munchlax were stereotypically more of eaters rather than fighters. Too bad that it wasn't true at all. Munchlax were frightening, especially the ones that are owned by the Akimichi clan. In fact, even thinking back to the battle he had with Choji made him shiver slightly.

"Yes, I'm sure, Naruto," the black-haired boy replied. "If you don't believe me, go and find him yourself and ask him."

A shrug from the blond was the response he received as Naruto spoke. "Alright. But I doubt that I'll find him any time soon. He's probably in a city across the region by now since you all started way earlier than me."

When he saw the blond pout from what he had said at the end, Sasuke couldn't help but snicker to himself. "You poor boy. I'm sure you'll find him soon. And since this is you we're talking about, I'm sure you're going to challenge him too. Though I'm not sure who I'll be pitying at the end."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Because you'll definitely be as unpredictable as always and Choji will have a hard time trying to keep up with you. But then there's the fact that his Munchlax can be scary too, so yeah. Not sure who to pity."

"Oh, this again," Naruto rolled his eyes. "Munchlax are not scary, Sasuke. Choji's Munchlax is awesome! Why can't you see that?"

"You mean you didn't care that Kurama almost got squashed by it during the camp?"

The blond merely waved his hand. "As if Kurama could get squash that easily. Kurama and I are always up for any challenges. Choji's Pokémon was just one of the many we've faced and that's never stopped us, right, Kurama?" Turning to his partner, Naruto received a nod from the Vulpix who trotted over to his side.

"Whatever," Sasuke sighed. "Come on, let's go hand our Pokémon to Joy-san so she can heal our Pokémon. I've got to make a call to Sakura-chan as well so I can tell her that you're finally a Trainer. She'll be glad to hear about it."

At that moment, Naruto and Kurama froze, causing Sasuke to turn to them with a raised brow. "What? Is something the matter?" He watched as his blond friend slowly turn pale while the Vulpix beside him started to shiver in fright. Then, before he could even blink, the two sped passed him with Naruto tossing Kichi's Pokéball at him.

"I forgot to call Kaa-chan!" Naruto shrieked fearfully as he dashed towards the entrance of the Pokémon Center with Kurama close behind. With a quick glance to Sasuke, he continued. "You go ahead and get our Pokémon to Joy-san! I need to quickly call Kaa-chan before she kills me for not calling when I got here!"

As the two disappeared into the Pokémon Center, Sasuke let out a sigh. "That Nara was right. Blonds are troublesome…"


	4. Chapter 4: Mischief in Viridian Forest

**Chapter 4: Mischief in Viridian Forest**

* * *

Usually, when you call your parents, you would feel a sense of joy. Hearing their voices after not having been in contact with them for so long would put a smile on your face. However, the opposite could be said for Naruto as he dashed towards one of the many phones that the Pokémon Center had.

Sweat was profusely falling down the sides of his face as he and his paled Vulpix partner stopped at one of the phones, both panting heavily as Naruto raised his hand up to wipe his sweat. Then, he fearfully reached for the phone and dialed his house's number.

As the phone began to ring, anxiety swelled within the two as they looked up at the computer screen in front of them, which was trying to receive the call. Soon, the screen turned on. On it, was Kushina, whose long red hair was somehow levitating behind her, giving the impression that she had nine tails as she glared at the two with a phone against to her ear.

 _"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze!"_ The redheaded woman bellowed through the phone.

"K-Kaa-chan," Naruto stuttered out, his hands gripping around Kurama tightly as the two shivered in fright under her glare.

 _"Tell me, sochi,"_ Kushina said. _"What was the first rule I told you when I said that I'll let you become a Pokémon Trainer?"_

"T-To always call you whenever I reach a city with a Pokémon Center?"

Kushina nodded, her eyes never leaving them. _"That's right. And from the way you two look, you already forgotten it, didn't you?"_

"Y-Yes, but I had a reason for it, Kaa-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as soon as he saw his mother's glare hardened. He waited for a moment before he continued. "I forgot to call because I was getting my new Pokémon healed. Then I found Gamabunta here as well and then Joy-san told me that Sasuke was here, so I had to see him as soon as possible."

When she had heard the Greninja's name as well as Naruto's friend, Kushina's anger seemed to have lessened as her hair slowly fell back down. Her glare had also softened slightly as she let out a sigh. _"I see. Sasuke-kun, huh? I heard from Mikoto-chan that he was already a Trainer with a few badges._

Sensing that he had avoided danger, for now, Naruto gave his mother a quick nod. "That's right. Sasuke's already gotten himself three badges."

 _"That may be so,"_ Kushina replied. _"But I'm sure that you'll be able to catch up to him in time. After all, with all the training your father and I put you and Kurama through, you two will have all eight badges by the end of the year."_

"It's going to take me that long?" Naruto asked, giving a disappointed sigh which his partner imitated. However, they looked up to see Naruto's mother laughing at them with her hand covering her mouth as she continued.

 _"A year to gather all eight badges is actually the fastest time any Pokémon Trainer could achieve. Most Trainers usually take more than a year and a half to two years before they could reach the seventh."_

This time, Naruto blinked at his mother's words. "Really? Are the badges that hard to get?"

Kushina shrugged. _"Well, I don't consider them to be hard. But thanks to Blaine-san setting his Gym at Cinnabar Island, many Trainers have to find different means to get to his Gym. Many had to take ferry rides to get to the island while some used their Pokémon to get there but they could take longer due to changing weathers. Other than that, the Viridian Gym Leader also doesn't show up most of the time. But when he does show up, very few Trainers are able to receive the badge because he's a strong Gym Leader."_

"Does that mean I have to warn Sasuke about the Gym Leader when he shows up?" Naruto asked.

A snort escaped the redheaded woman's mouth as she shook her head. _"There's no need to do that, Naruto-kun. The Uchihas don't back down from tough challenges. Sasuke-kun has probably inherited his family's drive to be the best at everything, so I don't see a reason why you should tell him. Besides, I'm sure he knows what he's doing. You just focus on yourself for now."_

The whiskered blond gave his mother a nod and a grin. "You got it, Kaa-chan! Once my new Pokémon heals up, I'll head straight to Pewter City and get my first badge, ttebayo!"

Kushina nodded with a smile of approval _. "That's good, Naruto-kun. Be sure to catch more Pokémon while you're at it! I can't wait to see what kind of Pokémon you'll catch. Oh, and before I forget, while you're at Pewter City, make sure to buy a flashlight. Mt. Moon's quite dark inside once you step in."_

"I understand, Kaa-chan. See you again once I've reached Pewter City!"

 _"Bye, sochi! Tell Sasuke-kun I said hi too!"_

As the screen was switched off, Naruto placed the phone down and let out a sigh of relief as he turned to Kurama. "We dodged a major bullet there, pal." The Vulpix nodded in agreement as he leapt into the boy's arms. "Now that that's over, let's go see if Sasuke's finish with his talk with Sakura-chan."

* * *

Minato watched as his wife placed the phone down and smiled at her. "So I take it that he made it to Viridian City?"

"He did," Kushina replied. "Apparently, Mikoto-chan's younger son is in the city right now, waiting for the Gym Leader to come back so he could battle him for his fourth badge."

"Knowing Giovanni-san, I'm sure that's going to be awhile," Minato chuckled. "I wonder why he hasn't decided to travel to the other Gyms yet to get the other badges. That way, he'll be saving time to train for the Pokémon League."

His wife rolled her eyes. "Well, he is an Uchiha. Once they get their minds set on something, they won't stop until they get it. So it's going to be awhile before Sasuke-kun is going to get his Gym battle."

Just then, Kushina's Pansear entered the house with a letter in his hand. He closed the door and leapt over to the two humans and handed the letter to Minato.

Once Minato received it, he thanked Pansear for delivering it to him and opened the letter. His eyes travelled to the name of the sender and he smiled. "Looks like Kakashi isn't wasting any time. He's already sent me a letter."

"What did he say?" Kushina asked.

"Kakashi wrote that he has gathered his Pokémon and he's making his way to Pewter City as soon as he can. He's also sending news to Obito and Rin about Team Rocket and to keep an eye out for them."

A smile formed on Kushina's face as she folded her arms. "As always, Kakashi-kun is very reliable. But should we tell the others about this problem as well? I'm sure the rest of the Elite Four has to be informed about this so they can deal with the problem."

Minato nodded. "That's what I'm planning to do at the next meeting we have. I just hope we can stop Team Rocket before they accomplish whatever plans they have." Then, he placed both his hands on Kushina's shoulders, slightly startling her as he asked. "Do you think your family can help support us?"

Kushina blinked for a moment, before she replied. "I'm not sure about that. I mean, my family's still living in Alola, so I'm not sure that they will want to travel to Kanto. But I'll try and ask them to see if they can send some help."

"You have my thanks, Kushina-chan," Minato smiled back as he gave her a kiss on the lips, which she eagerly returned.

* * *

"Oi, Naruto…" Sasuke grumbled as he approached the whiskered blond. He tossed two Pokéballs at him, which Naruto caught without any effort. With a sigh, he spoke. "Next time, could you just hand your Pokémon to Joy-san yourself? You ran by her counter just to get to the phone. Is Kushina-obasan that strict about you calling her?"

After placing Kichi's and Pidgey's Pokéballs on his belt strap, he looked up at the black-haired boy. "If you were in my position, you'd know. But thanks for helping me out, Sasuke. So did you get to speak to Sakura-chan?"

"Coincidentally, when I reached the counter, Joy-san was on the phone with Sakura-chan. So when I handed our Pokéballs to her, she handed me the phone so I could speak to her. I've told Sakura-chan about our meeting and our battle. When I told her about you heading to Pewter City, she said that she'll be waiting for you once you reach Cerulean City."

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked, tilting his head slightly.

Sasuke continued. "Apparently, Sakura-chan's been waiting for a chance to get out of her mother's Pokémon Center and explore the region. Since I was heading here when we met back at Cerulean City, she didn't follow me because she's been here before and she didn't want to walk back to Cerulean City just to head out to the other towns cause she thinks her mother will probably forbid her from travelling."

"I see," Naruto said, nodding his head. "So I'm her ticket out of Cerulean City. As long as she's willing to heal my Pokémon along the way, I don't mind. But won't Mebuki-obasan be upset?"

Sasuke waved his worry off. "I'm sure Sakura-chan knows what to do. All you've got to know is that she'll be following you all around Kanto. Who knows, maybe we'll meet each other again someday."

"So you're still going to wait for the Gym Leader to come back so you can battle him?"

"Of course I am," Sasuke replied. "I came for a battle, Naruto. Nothing's going to make me change my mind. Win or lose, I'm going to get that battle. Once I have my battle, I'll leave and head to Vermilion City and get the Thunder Badge. Until then, I'll see you next time, Naruto."

With that, Sasuke walked off, making his way back to the cafeteria with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

As he left, Naruto couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. "He was always the dramatic one. Let's get going, Kurama. We've got a lot to do! Pewter City, here we come!"

Kurama yipped as he raised a paw up alongside Naruto's raised fist and with a grin, the whiskered blond took off with the Vulpix still in his arms.

* * *

It wasn't long until both Trainer and Pokémon were at the edge of Viridian City, where all they could see were endless clusters of trees which was well known to many people as the Viridian Forest. With one final glance at the city behind him, Naruto made his way down the path that led into the forest.

Excitement was beginning to build up within the blond boy as he recalled what Nurse Joy had told him as he was heading out of the Pokémon Center.

According to her, numerous children would occasionally head into the forest to catch the Bug Pokémon that reside within it and, much to the pair's delight, the children would challenge passing Pokémon Trainers so that they could prepare themselves for when they become Trainers.

Without a doubt, as soon as they had heard that, the two of them were too eager to enter the forest and since some Pokémon from the Johto region had decided to migrate to the Viridian Forest, Naruto was hoping that he could catch a few of them as well as train his newly caught Pidgey and Kichi so that they could at least gain some experience.

"What kind of Pokémon do you think we'll catch in here, Kurama?" Naruto asked, his eyes shifting to his partner. In response, the Vulpix shrugged. Naruto chuckled as he petted Kurama's head. "Well, whatever we find, hopefully they'll want to join us. Can't wait to see our team grow bigger."

Kurama yipped, making the blond nod in response. "That's right, partner. Can't forget about those kids Joy-san talked about. Our first official Pokémon battle together. How are we going to do it, Kurama? Wanna take it easy on them or go all out?" Another yip from Kurama was his answer. "You're right, Kurama. We never hold back. We're going to give it our all!"

The Vulpix nodded in agreement and was about to give another yip but froze. Without any warning, he leapt out of Naruto's arms, surprising the boy as Kurama faced their back, glaring around at the trees and let out a growl.

"Kurama, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly as he looked around at where his partner was glaring at. However, he couldn't seem to understand what had made Kurama act so aggressive all of a sudden. It was as if he was spooked. He bent down and picked up the Vulpix, that's when he saw it. Naruto let out a sigh of relief when he spotted a tiny string of web stuck on Kurama's fur.

Naruto laughed. "You got scared by a web? You don't have to be so jumpy, Kurama. It was probably one of those Bug Pokémon that lives in the forest coming out to greet us. There's nothing to worry about."

Kurama's glare remained for a few moments before he sighed and looked away. Perhaps his partner was right. Maybe he was a little jumpy, probably because he's looking forward to a fight with another Pokémon.

"Ah, we forgot to ask Joy-san how we're supposed to find our way out of here…"

The Vulpix sweat dropped at his partner and sighed. Maybe this was the time to feel jumpy after all.

* * *

However, as the two continued their walk deeper into the forest, a small Pokémon seemed to be snickering to himself as he peeked out of his hiding spot on a tree. Seeing as he was not spotted by the Vulpix, the Pokémon crawled out into the open.

Happy with his work, his red mandibles clicked a few times, causing a string of web to shoot out of his mouth as he leapt off the tree and swung his way to the next, closely following the two who had captured his attention.

It's been a while since he had seen an entertaining Pokémon Trainer. From what he had heard from the human's conversation with the Vulpix, it was probably safe to say that following them would be worth his time. Who knows, maybe he might like them.

* * *

"Pika?"

A Pikachu looked up from the Oran berry it was enjoying when it saw Naruto sitting down in front of it. The blond smiled at it and placed Kurama down as he looked back at the Pikachu, glancing at its tail. From its shape, Naruto knew it was a male Pikachu he was looking at.

"Yo," Naruto greeted as Kurama did the same.

"Vul~!"

The Pikachu smiled at them before looking back at his berry. He raised his paws up and offered his berry to them.

Naruto's smile remained as he accepted the half-eaten berry. "Thanks, little guy." He split the berry further, handing half of it to Kurama who gladly ate it as he ate the other half himself. Naruto stretched his hand out and stroke the Pikachu's cheek which the Pokémon seemed to enjoy as he squeaked delightfully.

"Hey Pikachu," Naruto said. "My partner and I just came into the forest not long ago. We're hoping if you could show us the way to the other end of this place."

The Pikachu gave him a nod and rose up on his feet and scurried away from the two, stopping for a few moments to look back at them and gesturing them to follow him, which the two complied.

"Thanks for helping us, Pikachu," Naruto said. "Without your help, Kurama and I would have been stuck here for who knows how long." This, of course, made the Vulpix roll his eyes at his Trainer which the blond saw and quickly offered a silent apology to his Pokémon, who ignored him.

Pikachu smiled amusingly at them as he continued to lead the way, listening to the boy's attempt to apologize to the Vulpix.

For about an hour, there wasn't much for Naruto and Kurama to see. So far, the Pikachu with them was the only Pokémon they had encountered in the time they've spent in the Viridian Forest. No other Pokémon had appeared nor had any of the children Nurse Joy spoke about. In short, their time in the forest was a complete disappointment which was also visibly expressed on their faces.

On the other hand, Pikachu seemed to be anxious.

Unlike the two with him, Pikachu knew the reason for why there wasn't any Pokémon showing up. After all, he was an inhabitant of the Viridian Forest, so he knew what was going on. When they had asked him to show them the way to the other side of the forest, Pikachu had decided to take the fastest way there.

However, the fastest path to the other side was also quite dangerous. The reason? Beedrill. Along the path he had used to guide Naruto and Kurama was the colony of hundreds of Beedrill, Kakuna and Weedle. To add to that problem was the fact that this was also the time when the Kakuna evolved into Beedrill which will only increase the amount of Beedrill they had to watch out for since they are extremely territorial.

"Not to be rude or anything, Pikachu," Naruto spoke, gaining Pikachu's attention as he continued. "But isn't there supposed to be, like, tons of Pokémon living in the forest? Why haven't we seen any of them?"

Stopping in his tracks, Pikachu turned to face them. Then, he looked towards Kurama and spoke to him, much to Naruto's disappointment as he could not understand what the two Pokémon were talking about. But judging from the way Pikachu was speaking softly to Kurama and how the Vulpix seemed to tense as he listened to the Mouse Pokémon, Naruto made a guess that there was something that's causing the silence.

When Pikachu was done, he continued walking down the path while Kurama made his way back to Naruto.

"What is it, Kurama? Did Pikachu tell you what's going on?" Naruto asked, earning a nod from the Vulpix. "Let me guess, we might be in trouble, right?" Another nod. "Great…"

* * *

It's been over an hour, and the human hasn't done anything to impress him. All the human has been doing for the entire time was walk! He was getting impatient. He wanted to see what the human was capable of doing with his Pokémon.

That's when he came up with an idea.

He realized that they were walking through the part of the forest which the Beedrill were occupying. Additionally, he remembered that another human boy had entered the forest since this morning who was heading straight for the Beedrill nest.

With a click of his mandibles and a grin, the small Pokémon produced a web and swung off towards the nest of the Beedrill.

* * *

More time has gone by since Pikachu's talk with Kurama and all was going well for the group. According to the Mouse Pokémon, they were close to the halfway mark of the Viridian Forest, much to his relief. However, even though they had been safe throughout the way, Naruto and Kurama was still as disappointed as they had been a while ago.

They both knew that staying safe was a good thing since it would allow them to avoid a stern lecture from Naruto's mother, but they couldn't help it. They were itching for a fight, damn it! In fact, Naruto had even considered just picking up the two Pokémon and walking off the path so that they could search for a Pokémon for them to battle. However, he restrained himself. After all, what good is a fight when you don't even know what you're going to find in the forest to battle?

"Pika, Pika?" And it seems Pikachu had also noticed the look on Naruto's face as well since he had stopped to turn and face the blond.

Naruto chuckled, waving off the worry the Pikachu was showing. "It's nothing, Pikachu. I'm just bored, that's all. Kurama and I haven't gone this long without a battle ever since the time we had to see through a lesson on identifying berries."

Kurama nodded in agreement, his tails wagging to keep his boredom to a minimum.

"Do you think Sasuke felt this bored when he was crossing this forest?" Naruto asked as he faced the Vulpix, who seemed to shrug.

"Pika, Pika, Pikachu," the Mouse Pokémon spoke, as if trying to reassure the two that they were closer to their goal.

But as they were about to continue on, a scream caught their attention.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Their heads turn to the direction of the scream and Pikachu almost paled when he realized that the scream was coming from the direction of the Beedrill's nest.

"Someone's in trouble," Naruto said. "Looks like being patient has finally paid off, don't you think so, Kurama?" Of course, the Vulpix nodded with a sense of rejuvenated excitement filling his body. As Kurama leapt into Naruto's arms, the human turned to the Pikachu. "Sorry about this, Pikachu. But we're going to have to stop here for a while. Whoever it was, they need our help."

Just as Pikachu was about to voice out his complain, the two had vanished into the greenery, leaving the Mouse Pokémon out in the open. Pikachu let out a sigh and shook his head dejectedly before he steeled himself and approached the trees. If those two were going to hurt themselves fighting dozens of Beedrill, then they're going to need some help.

* * *

As the screams got louder, the smile on Naruto's face grew wider. "Alright, Kurama. We're close to whatever's causing it. Once we see what's going on, get ready for our first battle!"

"Vul~!"

"Someone help me!"

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Naruto cried as he burst through the bushes. As soon as he saw the sight in front of him, the smile on his face vanished and was quickly replaced by a shocked look. In front of him, a swarm of Beedrill was all that clouded his vision as they flew all over the place in anger.

His eyes then looked down to see the shivering form of a small boy, who looked to be younger than him, with his back pressed against the tree behind him. The boy wore a straw hat which he was using to cover his face. He also wore a white sleeveless shirt and blue pants which had a few tears on them, probably caused by the stingers of the Beedrill.

The boy lifted up his straw hat, noticing Naruto. "Please help me!"

Apparently, it was enough to make Naruto remember why he was here. Naruto dropped Kurama and spoke. "Alright, Kurama. We've got to help that kid out. Use Flamethrower and make sure to not hit the kid."

A smirk formed on the Vulpix's face as a sphere of flame formed in his mouth. Without any hesitation, Kurama fired a stream of fire from his mouth towards the Beedrill swarm. The flames struck the middle of the swarm, causing the Beedrill to disperse in all direction which gave Naruto the opportunity to run up to the boy with Kurama following closely behind.

"You alright kid?" Naruto asked as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

The boy slightly winced but he managed to answer the blond. "I-I'm alright. But I can't find my Metapod. We got separated when the Beedrill suddenly attacked us."

A Beedrill flew down towards them, which Kurama was prepared to burn with another Flamethrower but instead, a lightning bolt struck the Bug type Pokémon, causing the Beedrill to fall as Pikachu jumped over its body and landed in front of the group. "Pika! Pika, Pika!"

"Nice one, Pikachu!" Naruto smiled before he looked around him in hopes of spotting the boy's Metapod. However, with the amount of Beedrill in the area, there was hardly anything he could see other than black and yellow. With a sigh, he turned to the boy. "I'm sorry kid, but I don't think we can find your Metapod at the moment. There's just too many Beedrill. We'll have to look again later. For now, we have to leave."

The boy seemed hesitant to leave at first, but when Kurama had to chase off another Beedrill that had gotten close to them, the boy balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth as he gave Naruto a nod with a tear slowly forming in his eye.

"Kurama, use Flame Charge this time. We need to clear a path to get out of here!"

With a nod, the Vulpix's tails rose up and in an instant, Kurama was engulfed in a ball of flame as he charged into the Beedrill swarm in front of him, knocking most of the Beedrill away as Naruto led the boy and Pikachu out of the swarm.

As the Beedrill recovered from Kurama's attack, they gave chase to the group.

Seeing this, Naruto gave Pokémon another command. "Kurama, block their path with a Flamethrower, and make it a big one!"

"Vul!" Kurama replied as he spun around, charging up a ball of flame in his mouth. Then, he fired a stream of fire. This time, however, the fire had tripled in size. As soon as the fire hit the ground, a wall of flame erupted which stopped the Beedrill from advancing closer to them. Unable to continue their pursuit of the group, the Beedrill flew back to their nest.

* * *

With a click of his mandibles, the small Pokémon watched as the Beedrill returned to their nest and he grinned to himself. As expected, the blond boy was definitely an entertaining Pokémon Trainer to watch.

He had thought that the Trainer would have made his Pokémon battle the swarm head-on, but he had proven him wrong by retreating instead. Not only that, it was the first time that he had seen a Flamethrower used in such a manner.

It excited him to know that there was such a Trainer. In fact, he wanted to know what else the Trainer was capable of. Perhaps it was time to test the boy out. Maybe a battle to suffice.

* * *

Once the Beedrill could no longer be heard, Naruto had called out Kichi to put out the flame, which the Froakie did with his Bubble attack. As he was the only Water type Pokémon in the group, it took him quite a while to put the wall of flame out. By the time Kichi had extinguish the flame, night had already arrive.

"We'll rest here for the night. Is that alright with you guys?"

The Pokémon nodded in agreement. The boy, however, was barely listening to Naruto as his eyes were still facing the direction of the nest while he sat with his arms hugging his legs. "Do you think Metapod's alright?"

Naruto smiled at the boy as he sat down next to him. "I'm sure nothing bad is happening to your Pokémon. You've got to think positive." There was a pause between the two for a while as the two watched Kurama and Kichi eating berries that Pikachu was kind enough to gather for them. Then, Naruto spoke again. "I'm Naruto, by the way. What's your name?"

"S-Sammy," the boy replied.

"What were you and your Metapod doing in the forest anyway? Were you planning on catching a Pokémon?"

Sammy shook his head as he looked at Naruto. "No. I was planning on helping my Metapod evolve. You see, Metapod evolved a few days ago while we were in the forest so I wanted to come back here to find some Pokémon for Metapod to battle so he could evolve. We couldn't find any Pokémon to battle and I thought we could try finding a Weedle to battle."

"Let me guess, you ended up finding a Weedle, but there was more than just that one Weedle, right?"

"Yeah. We walked right into the whole nest," Sammy replied. "All of the Beedrill were asleep when we found the nest so I thought we could leave without waking them up. But then one of the Beedrill suddenly woke up and it alerted the whole nest. Metapod tried to protect me, but one of them grabbed him and flew away and the others just attacked me. That's when you came."

"I see," Naruto muttered to himself. As he processed Sammy's words, his mind began to recall a lesson that Iruka-sensei had taught him back in one of his lessons in camp which was about Bug type Pokémon.

 _"Remember this, kids,"_ Iruka-sensei had said. _"If you ever encounter Weedle or Kakuna during your time as a Trainer, do not ever attempt to battle them if there are Beedrill close by. They are extremely concern with the welfare of Weedle and Kakuna, and they will respond aggressively to those that disturb them."_

That's when a thought came up in Naruto's mind, making the blond grin as he turned to face Sammy. "You have nothing to worry about, Sammy. Your Metapod's going to be alright and I'm sure of it."

"But why?"

Seeing the confused look on the boy's face made Naruto chuckle as his grin grew wider. "That's because the Beedrill will probably think that your Metapod is one of their Kakuna, so nothing bad will happen to your Pokémon."

A look of hope appeared on Sammy's face as he leapt to his feet. "Are you sure?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm sure. Tell you what, when it's morning, we'll go back to the nest and find your Metapod. How does that sound?"

"Really? You'll do that for me?"

The boy received a nod from Naruto. "That's right, Sammy. We'll head straight for the nest in the morning and get your Metapod. It's a promise, dattebayo. So for now, we'll need to get some sleep. Kurama, you mind giving us a small fire?"

Kurama gave his partner a nod as he got up and trotted over to him before blasting an extremely small Flamethrower onto a few wooden sticks that Kichi had picked up around them, which created a small bonfire.

Unknown to them, however, was a small Pokémon who had overheard what Naruto had said. The Pokémon clicked his mandibles a few times to himself, as if he was snickering, as he crawled away into the cover of the tree he was on as the group was preparing to fall asleep.

* * *

Morning had soon arrived and Naruto had kept his promise to Sammy, seeing as the blond had already up before the younger boy was. Naruto had returned Kichi to his Pokéball and with the leftover berries from the previous night, they quickly set off towards the Beedrill nest.

As they approached the nest, they took cover behind a few bushes which was facing the side of the tree where they spotted the Kakuna and a few Beedrill sleeping. However, what caught their attention was a green cocoon that was placed right below the Kakuna. Naruto had been right, the Beedrill had thought that Metapod was a Kakuna.

"How are we going to get Metapod without waking the Beedrill up?" Sammy asked.

"Easy," Naruto replied. "Kurama and I will be going to grab your Metapod and bring him back to you."

Sammy's jaw dropped at the blond's words. "You can't be serious, Naruto-san. What will you do if the Beedrill wakes up while you're there? It's too dangerous!"

Naruto simply smiled at the younger boy. "Relax, Sammy. Kurama and I will be fine. This will be like hiding from my mother when she's mad. And if we could hide from my mother, then I'm sure Kurama and I can handle sleeping Beedrill. Besides, if anything goes wrong, Pikachu's here to keep you safe." The Vulpix and Pikachu nodded in agreement, with Kurama confidently puffing out his chest and Pikachu giving off a few sparks of electricity from his cheeks.

"Just be careful, alright? I don't want you to end up almost getting stung like me."

"There's nothing to worry about, ttebayo," Naruto said as he and Kurama silently crawled out of the bushes and began approaching Metapod.

Fortunately for them, Metapod was wide awake when he heard a soft rustling from the grass beside him. Metapod glanced to the side and was met by a grin from Naruto as he quietly raised his arms out and lifted up the Cocoon Pokémon.

"We're getting you out of here, little guy," Naruto whispered as he slowly got up to his feet and turned around.

As quickly as they could, Naruto and Kurama ran back to the bushes with Metapod in their possession.

A sigh of relief came out of Sammy's mouth when they stopped right beside him and a smile formed on his face as his eyes met Metapod's. "Are you alright, Metapod?"

The Cocoon Pokémon gave what seemed to be a smile to his Trainer. "Meta~" Sammy's smile widened and he hugged the Pokémon tightly to his chest while Naruto, Kurama and Pikachu smiled at them as Sammy faced Naruto. "Thanks for helping me get Metapod back, Naruto-san."

"It was nothing, ttebayo," Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head. "Now let's get out of here before they wake up." The others agreed with the blond and they got up to make their leave.

However, just as they were about to leave, Kurama suddenly yipped, catching the attention of the others as they turned towards the Vulpix who had looked back in the direction of the tree where the Beedrill were resting on. Much to Naruto's shock, a string of web was found on Kurama's back which resembled the one he had found on the Vulpix's back the previous day when they had entered the forest.

Kurama bared his teeth at the tree's direction and the others looked towards it.

When they did, Pikachu's eyes widened and he let out a surprised squeak as soon as his eyes met those of a small green Pokémon who was staring back at the group from a branch on the tree.

From the perspective of the group, they would have not known much about the small Pokémon they were looking at except for the fact that it had angered Kurama. But to Pikachu, who had grown up in the Viridian Forest, he knew who the Pokémon was. He was none other than the Viridian Forest's resident Pokémon prankster, Spinarak. And if he was here, then things were probably going to go south for them.

"A Spinarak?" Sammy muttered. "What's it doing here?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever the reason, it can't be good." As much as Naruto wanted to prove himself wrong, he couldn't.

The Spinarak grinned at them and clicked its mandibles at them as it turned towards a nearby Beedrill who was sleeping on the same branch it was on. Before anyone, except for an extremely frightened Pikachu, could guess what Spinarak was about to do, it shot a string of web at the Beedrill before leaping off the branch and crawling away.

Awoken from its sleep, the Beedrill furiously swiped at its face with its stingers to rid itself of the web. When it was done, the Beedrill looked up and spotted the group. Apparently, it recognized them as it quickly hovered off the branch and buzzed around the tree as quickly as it could. Its buzzing woke the rest of the Beedrill up.

Within seconds, the entire tree was shaking and from it, dozens of Beedrill flew out into the open with their eyes all glaring straight at the group.

"Do you think they remember about yesterday?" Sammy managed to ask as his body began shaking in fear.

The Beedrill swarm charged forward, causing the group to start running as the swarm chased them down.

"I think they do, dattebayo!" Naruto cried out. "Kurama! Anytime you're ready!"

Kurama gave an affirmative yip as he stopped in his tracks for a moment to produce a sphere of fire in his mouth before firing off a Flamethrower at the swarm and running off to join Naruto's side again.

"How are we going to get rid of them this time?!" Sammy yelled, not wanting to turn his head around.

"I don't think a fire wall is going to work this time," Naruto replied. "Running away won't work since they can fly to keep up with us, but the only thing I can think of now is to fight them."

"What?!"

"I know, crazy, isn't it?" Naruto chuckled. "But if we want to make it out without too many injuries, we'll need to fight them." Naruto immediately stopped, followed by Kurama as they turned to face the fast approaching swarm. "I don't mind if you go on, Sammy. But I'm not going to run. You hear that, Beedrill! I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I don't run from a fight, ttebayo!"

As the swarm came closer, Naruto reached for his belt and removed Kichi's and his recently caught Pidgey's Pokéballs. "Kichi! Pidgey! I'm gonna need your help here!" Their Pokéballs enlarged to fit Naruto's hands and split opened to release the two Pokémon from their capsules.

The Froakie smiled as soon as he was out and hopped to Kurama's side, looking as excited as he could be.

On the other hand, Pidgey had emerged while still in her sleep. Though from the sound of the swarm's buzzing, she woke up and mentally grumbled to herself as she tried to figure out why she was out in the first place. Only when she noticed the swarm, did she became fully alert of the situation she was in.

Before Pidgey could panic, Naruto continued to speak. "We're going to Pewter City and nothing's gonna stop us! Kichi, distract them with Double Team. Kurama, charge up a Flamethrower. We're gonna need a really strong one."

The two Pokémon gave their Trainer a nod as they began to execute their orders. Kichi leapt forward, producing as many copies of himself as he could to confuse the swarm, leaping in all directions while Kurama steadied himself with his mouth wide open as another sphere of fire formed, slowly growing bigger with every minute passing.

Pidgey shook in fear as she estimated the amount of Beedrill in her field of vision. Don't get her wrong. She wasn't scared of Bug Pokémon, what made her terrified of the current situation was the sheer number of them. One of them, she could handle, but dozens of them? That was way out of her league! What the hell was her new Trainer thinking sending her out against them?!

"Pidgey."

Hearing her Trainer's voice, she turned around to see Naruto as he continued. "I'm gonna need you to help Kichi out. Even with that many copies, Kichi won't be able to hold them off on his own like that. So I need you to use your Sand Attack to blind them. Think you can do that?"

Pidgey gulped nervously as she looked at the swarm, and then back at Trainer before looking back at the swarm. Reassuring herself, Pidgey took a deep breath and flapped her wings to lift herself off the ground. She flew close to the ground and flapped as hard as she could to generate a dust cloud.

Kichi saw this and quickly reached for the Frubbles on his neck, bringing it up to cover his face to act as a mask as the dust cloud engulfed him, his copies and the swarm. Thanks to his Frubbles, Kichi was able to avoid having his vision clouded, unlike the Beedrill who were struggling to even fly straight as some of them began colliding with each other.

"Kichi, use Quick Attack!"

A white glow emitted from Kichi's body as he leapt forward, disappearing in a flash as he rammed into several Beedrill, sending them crashing into the ground.

Unfortunately, that seemed to have helped one of the Beedrill as it was launched out of the dust cloud by Kichi. With a shake of its head and a rub from the smooth surface of its stingers, the Beedrill turned its attention to Naruto and dived down towards the blond human with its stingers out as it prepared a Twineedle attack.

"Naruto, look out!" Sammy cried out as he ran towards the blond. Seeing as the blond did not move, he could only guess that Naruto had not heard him. He tightened his grip on Metapod and looked down at him, only to see that Metapod had a look of determination.

Then, a thought came to his mind as he looked at the diving Beedrill and back to Metapod. With a nervous gulp, he spoke. "Metapod, I know this is going to be crazy, but I hope you'll trust me on this." The Cocoon Pokémon said nothing, only rocking to show that he was nodding to his Trainer. "Okay, then I hope you're ready to help Naruto-san out." Sammy raised Metapod up, letting him face the Beedrill. "Fire your String Shot!"

Metapod released a string of web at the Beedrill, catching it off guard as it was instantly covered in web. The Beedrill swerved to its right as the web immobilized its wings, causing it to crash right in front of the whiskered blond, who flinched in surprise before turning back with a smile.

"Nice one, Sammy!"

Sammy smiled back at him. "Metapod and I are not running away, Naruto! We're going to help you!"

"Meta~!"

"That's nice to know," Naruto replied as he turned back to his Pokémon. "Keep it up, Kichi, Pidgey! Kurama's almost done!" His Froakie gave him a nod in return while his Pidgey felt like she wanted to be called back into her Pokéball as she ducked under a Beedrill's attack.

Sammy placed Metapod on the ground and with a determined look of his own, he spoke. "Metapod, let's help Naruto out. String Shot!" Metapod complied, firing another string of web at a few Beedrill that had tried to corner Kichi, allowing the Froakie to leap away as the Beedrill all turned around to begin their attack on Metapod.

Fortunately for the pair, the String Shot had helped to slow down the Beedrill, which gave Sammy enough time to give out another order to his Pokémon. "Metapod, use Harden and then use Tackle!"

A green glow emitted from the Cocoon Pokémon's body as the Beedrill lunged at Metapod together. However, their stingers were deflected the moment they made contact with Metapod's body. Metapod then leapt, tackling one of the Beedrill to the ground before jumping off its body as the others continued their assault.

Once more, Metapod had used Harden to protect himself as soon as they came too close to him.

"String Shot again!"

Another strong of web coated the Beedrill, courtesy of Metapod, and they began to slow down, suddenly feeling heavier than they were before.

Just as Sammy was about to give another order to attack, a lightning bolt flew pass him and struck the Beedrill, causing them to collapse as sparks of electricity crackled around their bodies. Sammy turned his head back and smiled when he saw the Pikachu that had been with them, his cheeks sparking and a confident smirk on his face as he scurried towards the boy.

"Glad of you to join us, Pikachu!" Naruto had yelled, having glanced back when he saw the Thunderbolt being used on the Beedrill.

"Pika, Pika, Pikachu!" The Electric Mouse Pokémon spoke as he stood alongside the Metapod, who rocked forward, as if nodding to the Pikachu.

Naruto smiled to himself. "Guess I can add defeating a Beedrill colony to my accomplishment. Kurama hold on a bit longer. Get ready to fire that Flamethrower on my command."

Kurama didn't reply. Instead, he nodded while keeping the shape of the fire sphere in front of his mouth.

"Kichi, fire Bubble into the air!"

Hearing his Trainer's command, Kichi lowered his Frubbles and inhaled before he fired off several bubbles into the sky. The bubbles quickly descended down, making contact with some of the Beedrill which knocked them out of the air and onto the ground.

"Pika~Chu!"

A lightning bolt soared overhead Kichi and much to the Froakie's surprise, it struck two Beedrill above him. Looking back, Kichi gave a thumbs up to Pikachu who nodded back as Naruto spoke. "This seems to be alright. Kichi, Pidgey, come back. Kurama, let it out. Flamethrower!"

In an instant, a burst of flame engulfed the area.

Kichi, as quick as he was, managed to avoid being burnt while he retreated back to Naruto's side. Pidgey, on the other hand, just barely got out of it with a slight burn on her tail feathers, which she made known by squawking as loudly as she could before blowing it out.

The flame was immediately put out and the group heaved sighs of relief when they saw the beaten Beedrill all flying away.

"Told ya, nothing's going to stop us," Naruto chuckled as he returned Kichi and Pidgey back to their Pokéballs after thanking them. "You alright, Sammy? How's your Metapod?"

"We're both fine, Naruto-san," Sammy replied, hugging Metapod close to him. "That was an amazing Flamethrower, Naruto. It's got to be the strongest one I've ever seen!"

The blond Trainer smiled as he ruffled the younger boy's hair. "I'm sure Kurama appreciates the compliment, but my mother's Incineroar has a much stronger Flamethrower than Kurama does, isn't that right, partner?"

Kurama reluctantly nodded. Though he was sure that his Flamethrower was strong, there was no denying that the Pokémon who taught him the move was even stronger than he was when it comes to it.

"But there's no doubt about it," Sammy continued. "With that kind of power, you can totally beat the Gym Leaders without any problems!"

Naruto laughed. "I don't think the Gym Leaders are that weak, Sammy. But there's no way Kurama and I will lose to them because a Pokémon champion never loses a fight, isn't that right, Kurama?"

The Vulpix didn't reply back, causing Naruto to look down at his furry partner. Naruto saw that Kurama wasn't even looking at him and was instead looking in the direction of an unconscious Beedrill and growling at it.

The others turned their attention to the unconscious Beedrill and they gasped, all except Naruto, who had narrowed his eyes. On top of the Beedrill was the Spinarak from before.

"Looks like the fight isn't over yet," Naruto said as he stepped forward and folded his arms. With his eyes still on the Bug Type Pokémon, Naruto continued. "I don't know what your problem is, Spinarak, but waking those Beedrill up was not funny."

Kurama's growl grew louder as he stood next to his partner, ready to pounce on the Spinarak as soon as the blond Trainer tells him to.

Spinarak, however, eyed the two with curiosity and interest. This human in front of him was special, he was unlike other humans he had encountered before. And the Vulpix? For such a small Pokémon to release a massive Flamethrower, it had caught him off guard to see such a spectacle. He wanted to see more of what this pair had to offer, and for him to see more, he knew he had to do one thing.

Pikachu observed Spinarak with a confused look. For as long as he knew, Spinarak was the kind of prankster who would laugh at the misfortune of others who he had pranked and leave the next moment without any word or action. To see the Bug Type Pokémon staying still and staring at the blond human worried him. Then, something unexpected happened.

A string of web was fired in front of the pair by Spinarak, who clicked his mandibles at Kurama.

To the two humans, it seemed like Spinarak was not done messing with them just yet, which made Naruto's brow twitched as he tried to control his anger while watching Kurama and Spinarak converse with each other.

But to the Pokémon, Spinarak had challenged Kurama to a battle, which surprised Pikachu as he had never seen Spinarak engaged in a Pokémon battle before. The Vulpix, however, thought nothing of it. Instead, he grinned with excitement visible in his eyes. All he could think of now was how he was going to defeat Spinarak for all the trouble that the Bug Type Pokémon had put him and Naruto through.

Looking back to his partner, Kurama yipped at Naruto and got into a battle stance that the whiskered blond knew all too well. Naruto gave a grin that seemed identical to Kurama's as he spoke to Spinarak. "So you want a battle, do you? Fine. We'll give you one that will blow you away!"

Satisfied with the outcome, Spinarak leapt off the unconscious Beedrill and started off the battle with Poison Sting, sending multiple needle-like projectiles at Kurama. Fortunately, that wasn't problem for the Vulpix.

"Dodge those, Kurama."

Kurama did as he was told, dodging each of the projectiles with ease as he leapt from spot to spot. Once the Poison Sting assault was over, Naruto began his turn. "Kurama, Quick Attack!"

A white glow emitted from Kurama's body as he dashed forward, slamming into Spinarak and sending the Bug Type Pokémon flying into the air as Naruto quickly gave the next command. "Now use Flamethrower!"

Releasing the flames from his mouth, Kurama blasted it towards Spinarak, who had landed on the side of a tree. Seeing the stream of fire heading his way, Spinarak fired a web and swung off, escaping the Flamethrower thrown his way as he landed back on the ground.

"Not bad, Spinarak," Naruto complimented, impressed by the Bug Type Pokémon's evasion. "Too bad for you, it takes a lot more than that to escape Kurama's attacks. Let's see how well you do against this, Double Team!"

With those two words, Kurama knew what his partner had planned for Spinarak and he couldn't wait for it to happen. So, he began creating duplicates of himself all over the area.

Seeing that he was surrounded, Spinarak leapt into the air and spun around and fired off his Poison Sting once more. His projectiles struck most of the duplicates but Kurama and some had managed to dodge a few before Naruto spoke again.

"Get him while he's in the air, Kurama! Quick Attack!"

Launching himself forward, Kurama glowed once more as his speed increased dramatically. Then, as he was getting closer to Spinarak, the Bug Type Pokémon had stopped spinning and was looking right at him with a grin.

Without any warning, Spinarak shot a string of web at Kurama, wrapping him up with the web as Kurama fell onto the ground. A red glow emitted from the Vulpix and within moments, Kurama cried out in pain as he felt his energy being drained out of his body.

"Naruto! Spinarak's using Absorb on Kurama!" Sammy exclaimed, hugging his Metapod close to him as he began to worry for Naruto and Kurama.

Naruto, however, scoffed. "A cheeky move like that won't surprise us. Kurama, end this with Flame Charge!"

Kurama's cries halted and a foxy smile formed on his lips as his body was engulfed in flames, burning away the web on his body as he leapt towards Spinarak, who had been taken aback by the flames that it made him flinched, and slammed his body into the Bug Type Pokémon.

Coming to a stop, the flames on Kurama's body faded away and he smirked down at the unconscious body of the Spinarak in front of him. He had won the battle.

Naruto simply nodded as he walked up to the Vulpix and petted him on the head. "Great job, Kurama. We won."

"Vul~!"

"That was awesome, Naruto-san!" Sammy said. "The way you and Kurama handled yourselves in that battle was amazing."

"Of course it was," Naruto replied. "I'm going to be the next Pokémon Champion, Sammy. Don't you forget that, you hear me?"

Sammy gave an excited nod. "You got my support, Naruto-san! With the way you fight, I'm sure that you'll become the Pokémon Champion in no time!"

Naruto said nothing, only giving him a smile as a thought went through his mind. _"Sammy's starting to remind me of Konohamaru…"_ Then, he turned to Pikachu and spoke to him. "Now that that's out of the way, how about we get back to helping me and Kurama find our way out of the forest?"

It took a few moments for Pikachu to realize that Naruto was talking to him and he quickly gave him a nod. Pikachu was still in a state of shock after what he had witness. To see the forest's resident prankster lose his first battle wasn't all that surprising, but what did surprise him was the way he was beaten. Never before had he seen a one-sided battle and he had never expected it to be Spinarak who was the one being beaten.

Naruto faced Sammy and ruffled the boy's hair one last time as he spoke. "Well, I won't be coming back to Viridian City for a long time, Sammy. I'm going to be traveling Kanto to challenge the Gyms. But when I come back to battle the Viridian Gym, I want to see how much you'll grow. So would you mind if we have a Pokémon battle when I come back before I take on the Gym?"

Hearing this, Sammy's jaw dropped. "W-what? You want to battle me? Why?"

"Why not?" Naruto shrugged. "It'll be nice to see how you'll improve yourself. That, and since you'll be a Pokémon Trainer in a few years, I figured I'll give you what it's like to be in a Pokémon battle between two Trainers. So how about it, Sammy?"

As he stretched his hand out, Sammy grabbed onto it and shake his hand. "You got yourself a deal, Naruto-san! When you get back, Metapod and I are going to give our all!"

"That's the kind of attitude a Trainer needs," Naruto smiled. "I'll see you again once I've collected the other Badges. I'll be looking forward to our match, Sammy. That's a promise, ttebayo!" With a firm shake of their hands, the two smiled at each other as they separated.

Kurama leapt into Naruto's arms and he gave Sammy a yip as the two walked off, following Pikachu on their path to Pewter City. All while Sammy was waving to them as he watched them leave. "Good bye, Naruto-san! Good luck on winning those Gym Badges!"

Though he knew he didn't need it, Naruto appreciated the good words that Sammy gave him, and so did Kurama. And as they walked on, Naruto couldn't help but think of the future battle he would have with Sammy once he comes back to Viridian City.

* * *

 **A/N: That awkward moment when I could have finished this last month but decided to procrastinate and leave it until today to finish up. But nonetheless, it's been posted. Well, don't expect the next chapter any time soon cause it will take a while to write it down. But I hope you enjoyed it, though the ending for this chapter could have used a little more work.**


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